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Ready to Debark Sunshine


jordanaire
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Waiting to get off Sunshine after 8-day cruise to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Wonderful cruise! Sunshine quite different than other ships we've sailed. Noticed many cutbacks that Carnival has made. Long waits in dining room (at least 1.5 hrs), new American Table menu doesn't have some of our favorites and more. Steakhouse uses OLD menu. Musical performers and live shows were OUTSTANDING! Best we've ever seen. Much more to come after getting home.

 

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Can't wait to hear about it!

 

And - can you please tell me if there were sewage sell issues? I am worried about this!

 

Also where the smoking section is - I like to avoid it - thanks!

 

I guess I seem "smell paranoid" lol!

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Can't wait to hear about it!

 

And - can you please tell me if there were sewage sell issues? I am worried about this!

 

Also where the smoking section is - I like to avoid it - thanks!

 

I guess I seem "smell paranoid" lol!

The only time we smelled the sewage smell was on Deck 3 near the Atrium. It was very strong smell. It seemed the worse as the ship was boarding on embarkation day. We never smelled it anywhere else during the cruise.

 

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Now that we are back from our Florida trip and Sunshine cruise, I now have a little time to write about our trip and cruise. This was our 23rd cruise and, certainly, not our last. This review may be a little bit long, and I may tend to forget about a few things, but I will try to fill you in on our experiences.

 

Day 1:

We flew from Lexington, KY to Melbourne, FL on April 3rd. We spent 3 days with my wife's cousin and her husband. We had a fantastic time with them! On April 4th, we took an airboat ride into the swamps to look for alligators and had no problem seeing dozens of them. It was a great time! GatorBaitTours.com

 

While in Melbourne, we spent a lot of time at the beach and dining on some of the best seafood anywhere. Florida Seafood in Cocoa Beach is SOOOO good!

 

Day4:

Several months ago, I heard that the Country Inn & Suites near Port Canaveral offered shuttle service to the ships for $5 per person and you didn't have to stay at the hotel to get this service. I called to make a reservation 2 nights before the cruise and was told that this wasn't true..you had to be a guest of the hotel in order to get the shuttle at all. So I called around and found Cocoa Beach Shuttle that charged $6 per person each way. I went ahead and made reservations. In order to help my wife's cousin stay out of the heavy traffic going to the port, I scheduled the shuttle to pick us up at the Holiday Inn Express. Her cousin then dropped us off at the hotel before heading to work. I went inside to ask the desk clerk if it was alright to sit inside and wait for the shuttle and she said "no problem. In fact, help yourself to some coffee, juice and cinnamon rolls". So we waited, along with other cruise passengers, here for our shuttle. We were told to wait outside at 10:15am for pickup. Well, our shuttle never showed up! All of these other passengers were picked up by other shuttles and headed to their ships, while my wife and I were still waiting. Most rode Beach Line Transportation. After 4 phone calls to Cocoa Beach Shuttle, our van finally arrived at 11:35am. We were finally off to the Sunshine!

 

Embarkation:

We arrived at the very busy port at 12:00 noon. We proceeded to the Platinum line and check-in was a breeze. Took less than 5 minutes. We got to the line of people boarding the ship and asked where the Platinum members go and were told "we boarded you people over an hour ago. Sorry". I thought that Platinum meant you could board ANY time once boarding began? No, we had to wait about 30 minutes with everyone else. It was almost 1:00pm when we arrived at our cabin (7177 inside) and dropped off our belongings. It was then off to Guy's Burgers for lunch. By this time, the lines were very long at all of the eateries onboard. Oh well...we're on the ship and on vacation!

 

After our Muster Drill, the ship set sail around 4:30 or so and as we passed Jetty Park, my wife's cousin & her husband were waving us goodbye and wishing us well. So glad that they drove up to see us off. It was then time to get ready for early dinner. We had a table for 2 (614) in the upper deck of the Sunrise dining room, at the very back of the ship. Great sunset view every night! Our head waiter Sobuer was very polite and efficient. His assistants, on the other hand, didn't help out as much as they should have. The service each night was very slow..at least 90-minutes or longer. Several nights, we didn't leave the dining room until 7:50pm, just in time for Late dining to begin. The American Table/American Feast menus are used on the Sunshine now, and some of our favorites are no longer available. But the meals that we had were just fine. The only complaints that we had were the baked potatoes that were not cooked fully and the lobster tail that was "rubbery" and chewy. Didn't care for either. We usually asked for the mashed potatoes instead of the baked ones. The rest of the meals were really good.

 

The Welcome Aboard show was really good, as were all of the musical productions. The musicians and dancers were the best that we ever seen. The final show "Epic Rock" was the BEST show that we have ever witnessed at sea! And on one night, ALL of the musicians onboard performed together at "Frog Fest". It was outstanding!

 

Day 2 (At Sea):

We had breakfast in the dining room for "Sea Day Brunch". It was delicious! I had Firery Tomato Soup, Eggs Benedict, Corned Beef Hash and Pineapple juice. And ice cream for dessert! My wife had the French Toast, with eggs and bacon and coffee. This meal was so good that we had it every day at sea. Be sure to check it out!

 

After breakfast, we looked for the first trivia game of the day. This was the first Carnival ship we've sailed on where the wasn't any trivia before noon. In fact, there was very little going on until noon. So we headed out to the Lido Deck in search of 2 lounge chairs. After looking for several minutes, we found them and stayed in them until the trivia games began. I was fortunate enough to win 1 more "ship on a stick" to add to my collection, in which I've won the cherished award on each of the 17 Carnival ships that we've been on.

 

Dinner this night was "Elegant Night". With all of the conversation on these boards regarding how men should dress on this night, I took a lot of time looking to see for myself. I wore a pair of dress slacks with a Hawaiian print shirt. I did not see one man in a tuxedo and, I would guess, 5 out of 10 men didn't even have a tie on. But we did see 2 guys not allowed into the dining room because they had on shorts, t-shirts and hats. So it would appear that dressing up in suits and ties are no longer required on formal nights.

 

Grand Turk:

My wife and I love this port of call. The beach near the port is really nice. We were warned that some locals were charging $25 for 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella near the water's edge. We should look for the green chairs and umbrellas...they were free, but several yards from the water. I went ahead and paid for the chairs, as I like to keep an eye on my possessions while swimming. Several locals will come around trying to sell you something, but a polite "no thank you" will send them on their way. We spent several hours on the beach before checking out some of the shops, then headed back to the ship.

 

San Juan:

Since we have been here several times before, we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy the Serenity area. We we quite surprised of the number of passengers that stayed aboard while here. I guess 6-hours doesn't leave much time for anything here.

 

St. Kitts:

This was our first time at this island, so we were very excited to check it out. I booked the "Grand Island Tour" through Thenford Grey's Tours online prior to leaving home. It was a fantastic tour. They picked us up just inside the visitor's center and put us on an air-conditioned bus. We spent 4-hours seeing the island, the massive fort on top of a mountain and some breath-taking views. The driver then took us to a beautiful beach for 2-hours of swimming. It truly was a great time seeing this beautiful island.

 

St. Maarten:

This is our favorite destination of all time, and we were heartbroken to see the damage left from the hurricane 6 months ago. Nearly every building was completely destroyed. I had booked a tour to "Orient and Maho Beach" with ShoreExcursioneeers.com prior to leaving home. After boarding the tour bus, I noticed that we were not headed towards Orient Beach. Instead, we arrived at a small but clean, sandy beach near the airport, about 2 miles from Maho. I asked the driver why we didn't go to Orient and he stated "the government won't allow us to go there. It's too dangerous with all of the debris from the hurricane". I can truly understand their reasoning, but I believe that I should have been told this prior to taking the tour and we could have changed tours. Oh well...live and learn! When we arrived at Maho Beach, the beach was so crowded that we just found a table inside the Sunset Beach Bar and had lunch. There were no large airliners land while we were there. Just the small inter-island "puddle jumpers". But we got to listen to some great Reggae music and had a great lunch.

 

This night, we enjoyed dinner in the Farenhiet 55 Steakhouse. What a wonderful meal and experience. We ALWAYS dine in steakhouse at least once on our cruises and this one did not disappoint! The service was spectacular! We spent less time here than in the dining room! The appetizers, the steaks and the desserts were cooked to perfection. I don't understand how anyone can NOT dine here at least once on their cruise.

 

2 Days at sea:

The last 2 days at sea were our chance to darken our tans and people watch. We really enjoy just sitting back and relaxing while at sea and this is exactly what we did. I wish that Carnival still had live musicians playing on the Lido Deck instead of a DJ, but the music was still good. The Cruise Director was Emma Nixon and she was fantastic! Cute English girl that really loves her job, and does it well. She was one of the more active CDs that we've ever had on a cruise. Loved her!

 

Debarkation:

After enjoying our last breakfast on the ship, we headed to the Limelight Lounge with fellow Platinum members at 8:30. We were there less than 20-minutes when they told us that we could leave the ship. We were off the ship and on land 10-minutes later (after going through Customs). Lo and behold, Cocoa Beach Shuttle was there and ready to take us back to the hotel, where we were picked up by my wife's cousin. Our cruise was officially over. Darn!

 

All-in-all, the cruise was fantastic! We didn't really care too much for the ship itself. The layout is quite unique compared to all of the other ships that Carnival has. The Lido Deck and the main auditorium are much smaller on this ship. Getting to know where all of the venues were took longer for us on this ship. Our cabin Steward (Daniel) was very good and took good care of us. The problems that we had with the cabin included a broken toilet (crack down the side) that had to be replaced, and our TV remote that had to be replaced 3 times. The TV receives very few channels (TCM, TBS, CNN. HLN, Cartoon Network and Carnival info channels). You cannot check your S&S account on your TV. They really push the usage of the Carnival HUB on your cellphone. You are suppose to be able to see the Fun Times, check your account, see the menus, etc. But it was sporadic. Plus you had to carry your cellphone with you all the time. TIP: place your phone in AIRPLANE MODE once you step aboard the ship, or be ready to pay some pricey roaming charges!

 

Frozen cocktails (Miami Vice, Kiss on the Lips, etc) are $9.78 with tax. A can of soda is $2.88 with tax. Lemonade is still served onboard, dismissing the rumors that it was no longer available.

Smoking area in on the right side (starboard) on Deck 10. There are chairs, tables and sofas here.

The "chair hogs" are in full force! Hard to get a chair unless you rise early.

The condiments at Guy's Burger tend to run out quickly (mustard, mayo, ketchup, etc)

There is an ice cream station located on EACH side of the Lido Deck. Flavor changes every day

Mongolian Wok (Jiji's) is located at the very back of the ship

Comedy club (Limelight Lounge) very small and located mid Deck 4. Comedians were all very funny!

Sail & Sign cards were at our cabin upon arrival

T-shirt sales were 5-for-$45 one day and 2-for-$20 on the last day at sea

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask

Edited by jordanaire
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I've been reading on F__e___k that many people on our cruise last week got very sick towards the end. We never had any issues. PLEASE wash your hands and use the hand sanitizer provided. It will help.

 

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I found out about a special hand sanitizer that can be bought on Amazon. I think it was called Zoona, but not positive. It is a 24 hour foam sanitizer that also kills Norovirus, which normal hand sanitizer does not. There is also a generic version sold at CVS called 24 hour Advanced Care foam hand sanitizer. Both the one on Amazon and the CVS brand sell for about $6 a bottle.

 

 

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They really push the usage of the Carnival HUB on your cellphone. You are suppose to be able to see the Fun Times, check your account, see the menus, etc.

 

Question about this, I have downloaded the app!!! Do you have to use wifi to use this option on your phone for the Carnival Hub or can it be on Airplane mode to use?

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They really push the usage of the Carnival HUB on your cellphone. You are suppose to be able to see the Fun Times, check your account, see the menus, etc.

 

Question about this, I have downloaded the app!!! Do you have to use wifi to use this option on your phone for the Carnival Hub or can it be on Airplane mode to use?

It instructs you to set your phone on airplane mode and then turn only wifi back on. That way you can connect to the ship's wifi and use the app. We enjoy it because you can favorite events in the fun times and it will remind you when they are getting close.

 

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