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It's always sunny...just off the Sunshine

medsed

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medsed

medsed

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To Belize or not to Belize, that was the question....

 

So, after hearing many stories about problems with traffic, with providers of tours, etc we were very unsure about what we would do in Belize. Finally we settled on the Wonders of the Barrier Reef excursion offered by Carnival which I gave a short review of in the Belize section of the ports of call forum here on CC.

 

We were up early once again. It seemed as though our good captain was bent on arriving early in each port. We stepped out on the balcony to find a beautiful sea breeze and a lovely view. Our excursion was not leaving until 11 and we had to meet the group at about 10:40 in the sunrise dining room...turns out about 200 people would be snorkeling with us!

 

We took our time, room service was prompt as usual. Hubby had some smoked salmon delivered. I put our juices in the fridge. Packed our backpacks for the excursion and set them aside. We were off to another good breakfast..we thought we might try the breakfast burritos at the Blue Iguana, they were ok if you can tolerate standard breakfast fare but hubby eats egg whites or reduced fat egg substitute and low fat meats etc so we ended up not eating there and headed to the main dining room for another good and substantial breakfast. After breakfast we went to look at pictures from the night before and walked through the shops for a bit. We headed back to our cabin, double checked our bags and grabbed towels and went to meet up with our excursion group.

 

Following the snorkel we returned to the ship having not eaten because the only thing available was junk food, burgers and hot dogs on the island...we rushed to Blue Iguana where we had tacos and burritos...yes, we had become predictable. Grabbed some fruit from the buffet as well and took it and some ice water and iced tea back to our cabin. After our showers we nibbled at the fruit on our balcony, we read a bit and headed up to one of the Serenity decks for a bit...we were so tired and we had an hour or so before we had to get ready for the show...nap time it is....ahhhhh...I do not sleep well at home but the motion of the ocean lulls me into a decent slumber every time I want to sleep, it is a real cruise perk for me!!

 

I want to take a moment here to mention Michael, our truly amazing steward. He was so courteous, so kind, went above and beyond all the time...our cabin was clean and made up promptly. On the first day he came by, introduced himself, asked if we needed anything...extra hangers and a corkscrew please, we had them in a matter of minutes. He checked with us to see what would be the best time for morning make up of the cabin and evening turn down and he was never ever disruptive or intrusive. He was friendly and just wonderful. If you are lucky enough to have Michael from India as your steward ever you will truly feel pampered and cared for and you will very much appreciate him for his efforts....wonderful!!!

 

We had set an alarm and woke up refreshed. We changed for dinner and went to the snow...it was a magician whose name I cannot recall..we are not magic show people I guess because we found it a bit hokey and we opted to leave and take a walk outside on the deck. It was a lovely evening. We soon decided to go to dinner as it was well after eight. Another good meal with great service!! Off we went to the comedy show which was also a magician and we decided not to stay so we walked and talked some more and then we headed to grab our cold beverages and we were off to bed....we are predictable..aren't we?

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medsed

medsed

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Roatan

 

For whatever reason neither of us slept as well last night...perhaps that nap was a bit too long? We dressed for our day and our room service was delivered. Hubby again ordered smoked salmon. Two tomato juices and two grapefruit juices...the same person had delivered it each day....I think he found our order funny. But, those juices are not available at the buffet and we keep juice on hand should hubby's sugar get too low. We cannot wait for room service or venture off to a bar if we are in our cabin and he needs it.

 

We were among the earliest guests in the main dining room where we grabbed a table for two and were lucky enough to find one of our favorite servers, Roberto from Philadelphia...well he's from the Philippines but he made that joke without realizing he was talking to a table of people from the Philly area the one day and we all just hit it off...he is always smiling and very pleasant even very early in the morning. After a good breakfast we headed back to our room, grabbed our instructions for where to meet our tour guide...We booked through victor Bodden tours...and we got in the line to get off of the ship...it was rather early still and the line was quite short..we were in the port in a matter of a minute or two...we walked out as instructed and the tour companies were lined up..we saw the victor Bodden people and were assigned Humer as our guide.

Now, we got in the cab and he said he would show us much of the islAnd, if we wanted to stop for pictures, just ask...hubby is an avid photographer. We had planned to stop at a supermarket, Victor's monkeys, a botanical garden, a couple of beaches, one where we would snorkel, on some hill tops, and a few other places. The tour was ok...we would have liked to hear more history, we should have asked. We did have an incident as the driver passed a spot where we wanted to get out and photograph. He pulled off and as hubby went to exit the car another driver sped up and tried to pass and hit the door, damaging both the taxi and the drivers light, apparently no one is supposed to exit from the rear passenger compartment on the drivers side and we ended up paying to fix both cars...we were less than happy about this as we thought he had pulled over safely, we were not told we could not exit from that side...after all hubby had entered from that side, and the otheer driver sped past and frankly tried to keep going even after he hit the car. Granted repairs in Honduras are not expensive but laying out extra cash for that was no fun...it cost us more than we spent on souvenirs for the whole trip. We did see and really enjoy the monkeys. On a hilltop we saw a bunch of vendors and were able to haggle and get a couple of small trinkets for reasonable prices. We bought coffee and vanilla and some other things...including some caramels for our steward, Michael, as we wanted to do something nice for him...we had tipped him already and actually had to make him take the money...he said I am just doing my job...he was great! We couldn't believe it when the supermarket cashier said our purchases were under twenty dollars...wow! Definitely go to a supermarket if you want things like coffee while you are there. The difference in pricing from the souvenir places is HUGE! We toured around and took a lot of pictures. We ended up at a place where the Bodden guys take their clients to swim and snorkel. Free chairs..shade if you want it...crystal clear water...it was rocky but very easy to swim..calm and serene. There was a restaurant and a bar...we did not get food but drinks were reasonable and well made. After snorkeling and drying off, we toured some more and then it was back to the ship. We were with our guide for five hours. Hubby had to go back onto the ship and grab more cash from our safe because of the accident while I waited with the tour guide. We gave him a modest tip and we shopped for one or two small things, collected our free charm from DI and we were back on board. Quick showers, a burrito and iced tea and we were off to find something to do on board. We played some trivia games and had some laughs. Went up to deck 14 as we sailed away from Roatan...lovely views from up there.

 

Tonight there would be new comedy shows. After lounging on deck 14 for a while we figured we better get ready for the show in the lounge and all of the evening's events so back to our cabin we went. After a bit of time we headed to the lounge for the show...it turned out to be hasbro the game show....now we actually like board games but found this to be a total bore...the young cruise director was hosting and he was simply no where near as dynamic as was Kirk, or was it Kurt, on our last cruise...whenever we saw the latter we knew that was the cruise director...he was everywhere, he approached people, asked how it was going, etc...young George was fine enough during the shows etc but he seemed less present to us...to the point that when we saw him two other times I actually said to hubby..who is he again...and we would have to remember it was George the cruise director. The hasbro show was definitely a hit with the youngsters and that was fine with us...we opted for some music in another area where a talented young woman was playing some acoustic guitar...lovely. Then we were off to dinner, a table for two, a lovely meal, and how lucky were we to be in Roberto's section once again!

 

After dinner it was off to the lounge for a comedy show..the line was long and we ended up not getting in for that one and had to come back for the next show..they repeat them two or three times a night. We killed some time in the piano bar and got back in line early. OMG was that show hysterical...I must give carnival credit...the comedy shows were extremely good the whole time. We were at the 11:15 show so when that ended we took a walk, went for our tea and water and headed up to the cabin. It was a long day and tomorrow we needed to be up and out quickly so that we could have as much time as possible in port as Costa Maya is a short stay.

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sxyshell

sxyshell

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Roatan

 

For whatever reason neither of us slept as well last night...perhaps that nap was a bit too long? We dressed for our day and our room service was delivered. Hubby again ordered smoked salmon. Two tomato juices and two grapefruit juices...the same person had delivered it each day....I think he found our order funny. But, those juices are not available at the buffet and we keep juice on hand should hubby's sugar get too low. We cannot wait for room service or venture off to a bar if we are in our cabin and he needs it.

 

We were among the earliest guests in the main dining room where we grabbed a table for two and were lucky enough to find one of our favorite servers, Roberto from Philadelphia...well he's from the Philippines but he made that joke without realizing he was talking to a table of people from the Philly area the one day and we all just hit it off...he is always smiling and very pleasant even very early in the morning. After a good breakfast we headed back to our room, grabbed our instructions for where to meet our tour guide...We booked through victor Bodden tours...and we got in the line to get off of the ship...it was rather early still and the line was quite short..we were in the port in a matter of a minute or two...we walked out as instructed and the tour companies were lined up..we saw the victor Bodden people and were assigned Humer as our guide.

Now, we got in the cab and he said he would show us much of the islAnd, if we wanted to stop for pictures, just ask...hubby is an avid photographer. We had planned to stop at a supermarket, Victor's monkeys, a botanical garden, a couple of beaches, one where we would snorkel, on some hill tops, and a few other places. The tour was ok...we would have liked to hear more history, we should have asked. We did have an incident as the driver passed a spot where we wanted to get out and photograph. He pulled off and as hubby went to exit the car another driver sped up and tried to pass and hit the door, damaging both the taxi and the drivers light, apparently no one is supposed to exit from the rear passenger compartment on the drivers side and we ended up paying to fix both cars...we were less than happy about this as we thought he had pulled over safely, we were not told we could not exit from that side...after all hubby had entered from that side, and the otheer driver sped past and frankly tried to keep going even after he hit the car. Granted repairs in Honduras are not expensive but laying out extra cash for that was no fun...it cost us more than we spent on souvenirs for the whole trip. We did see and really enjoy the monkeys. On a hilltop we saw a bunch of vendors and were able to haggle and get a couple of small trinkets for reasonable prices. We bought coffee and vanilla and some other things...including some caramels for our steward, Michael, as we wanted to do something nice for him...we had tipped him already and actually had to make him take the money...he said I am just doing my job...he was great! We couldn't believe it when the supermarket cashier said our purchases were under twenty dollars...wow! Definitely go to a supermarket if you want things like coffee while you are there. The difference in pricing from the souvenir places is HUGE! We toured around and took a lot of pictures. We ended up at a place where the Bodden guys take their clients to swim and snorkel. Free chairs..shade if you want it...crystal clear water...it was rocky but very easy to swim..calm and serene. There was a restaurant and a bar...we did not get food but drinks were reasonable and well made. After snorkeling and drying off, we toured some more and then it was back to the ship. We were with our guide for five hours. Hubby had to go back onto the ship and grab more cash from our safe because of the accident while I waited with the tour guide. We gave him a modest tip and we shopped for one or two small things, collected our free charm from DI and we were back on board. Quick showers, a burrito and iced tea and we were off to find something to do on board. We played some trivia games and had some laughs. Went up to deck 14 as we sailed away from Roatan...lovely views from up there.

 

Tonight there would be new comedy shows. After lounging on deck 14 for a while we figured we better get ready for the show in the lounge and all of the evening's events so back to our cabin we went. After a bit of time we headed to the lounge for the show...it turned out to be hasbro the game show....now we actually like board games but found this to be a total bore...the young cruise director was hosting and he was simply no where near as dynamic as was Kirk, or was it Kurt, on our last cruise...whenever we saw the latter we knew that was the cruise director...he was everywhere, he approached people, asked how it was going, etc...young George was fine enough during the shows etc but he seemed less present to us...to the point that when we saw him two other times I actually said to hubby..who is he again...and we would have to remember it was George the cruise director. The hasbro show was definitely a hit with the youngsters and that was fine with us...we opted for some music in another area where a talented young woman was playing some acoustic guitar...lovely. Then we were off to dinner, a table for two, a lovely meal, and how lucky were we to be in Roberto's section once again!

 

After dinner it was off to the lounge for a comedy show..the line was long and we ended up not getting in for that one and had to come back for the next show..they repeat them two or three times a night. We killed some time in the piano bar and got back in line early. OMG was that show hysterical...I must give carnival credit...the comedy shows were extremely good the whole time. We were at the 11:15 show so when that ended we took a walk, went for our tea and water and headed up to the cabin. It was a long day and tomorrow we needed to be up and out quickly so that we could have as much time as possible in port as Costa Maya is a short stay.

 

Loving your review! We loved the Victor Bodden tour guide we had. His name was Cardi. We also loved the monkeys! It was so neat getting to hold them.

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Tyggerj

Tyggerj

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We also were on this sailing. The sierra call you heard in Belize was for a gentleman we witnessed have a seizure in front of the pizza place. Not sure about the one in the middle of the night but it woke me up also.

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Sheeba67

Sheeba67

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I was so dead tired when they called that code that night that I thought they said señora reed. Omg. I was out of it.....

 

I will try to make time to finish up the review tomorrow

 

Do you remember where they took you snorkeling, and how was it. We want to go to Tabyana for snorkleing, but if there are other spots to check out, that would be great to know. Thanks

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medsed

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Do you remember where they took you snorkeling, and how was it. We want to go to Tabyana for snorkleing, but if there are other spots to check out, that would be great to know. Thanks

 

 

I know hubby took a pic of the sign so I will ask him when he arises...he works the overnight shift at the hospital so he is asleep for now.....the water was gorgeous there....

imagejpg1_zps5d26ea9e.jpg

I took this with my phone...he was actually quite a distance from me as I was on shore...but you can see right to the bottom even from a distance...it was quite a calm and nice place to snorkel, water shoes are a must!

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medsed

medsed

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Costa Mayaaahhhhhh

 

We were docked well ahead of schedule once again and for whatever reason I was really looking forward to this port. We got our delivery early..actually about 15 minutes early...hubby was hell bent on eating as much smoked salmon as possible so he ordered a platter for while we were dressing. Today I got my usual juices and also got an iced tea which I drank quickly while getting ready. The juice would be in the fridge when needed and I added some to a bottle to bring with us for the day in case hubby's sugar went haywire. Bathing suits, beach cover ups that were dining room appropriate and we were off to breakfast. Hubby marveled at the fact that we had the least time and the least planned for the day but that I seemed more excited to visit here than the other ports. Well. I had planned a relaxing day and was hoping it would all work out....relaxing does not come so easy at home with our daughter's health and our son's latest health issues added in to the mix...three or four doctors a week a lot of times....the "kids" are grown but oldest is in a wheelchair now and the youngest (son) is about to have his 11th foot surgery...yup, I write and I visit doctors....did someone say a truly relaxing day...oh, I am so ready...heck, I'd go back right now. (Not posting this for sympathy...just so you all will understand where I am coming from on this one)

 

So, we disembarked rather early and with the clear directions from our host we exited the port area and were almost immediately in the taxi area. The cabbies were very professional and did not drive like lunatics...cab rates were exactly as described by our host in his email instructions. Within about five minutes we were in Mahahual and across the street from our destination for the day..the Tropicante. We had emailed Steve and had reserved two loungers with shade...we saw someone with our names on a chalkboard...the cabbie pointed her out..and within five minutes we were at our chairs..marveling over the lovely spot we were fortunate enough to have found...internet service was free, a phone call home was free, the chairs and the beach and all were free...there were a lot of vendors coming by on the beach..I haggled with one and had him make up some bracelets with names on them for a reasonable price...he sat right there and made them and chatted a bit about living in such a gorgeous place. It was early so I was not ready for alcohol. They had a mineral water lemonade on the menu..a huge cup for two dollars...hubby was in the water...I was on my chair playing with the internet, reading, relaxing, and Imessaging the youngest..a lemonade sounded fabulous..so I started our tab. I got a bit warm...took a quick dip and it was back to my relaxing chair....we ordered two more lemonades and some rum punch over the course of the day...we had the best ceviche and some Costa Maya Jumbalaya round eleven or so...so yummy...hung out some more...I very much enjoyed the company of a fellow cruiser who ended up on the chairs next to ours...she is a lovely person with an amazing family!! (You know who you are.....lol). The owner of the place is originally from Texas..Steve visited as many of the guests as he could..he chatted asked what you needed etc....one could rent snorkel gear, jet skis, etc...one could get a message, take a boating tour...I think the host would try to arrange almost anything the guests wanted that was in his power....hmmm..delicious food, beautiful beach, good service...who could ask for more....this was a short port day so soon enough we headed back to the ship. After showering hubby's sugar was low....he must have swam miles while snorkeling.....so we headed to get a fish taco and some watermelon for him from Blue Iguana. I had a forkful or two of the delicious salsa...iced tea...yes, please.....then we played...and won...some trivia...sat on deck for a while..and then...drum roll please...we took a nap....a nap, ahhhhh, you know, I have insomnia at home but put me on any type of moving transport from a ship to a car to a plane to a bus and I am off to sleep.....a nap is a true luxury for us....we arose and decided to enjoy our balcony for a bit.

Before long we were dressing for the production show, dinner, and the rest of the evening. In the liquid lounge we tried to enjoy Studio VIP...the music was ok but there were continual sound system issues although the cruise director claimed the show kept stopping for the safety of the performers. Eventually we realized that this would drag out to the point that the rest of the evening would be all messed up so we left and headed for dinner...we went to get our Your Time Dining ticket and were told to head right down...a lovely table for two..at the very rear of the ship with a great view of the wake...oh, perfection...and another rather good meal...how nice...we took our time..ate, chatted etc....then it was off to the dreaded line up for the comedy show...we got in, got a seat and waited...we were too full from dinner for a cocktail just yet and hubby had one already that day...limits people, he must have limits or the sugar skyrockets....the show was fabulous...albeit so warm in there that people were fanning themselves the whole time....we left the venue and decided to wander a round for a while..did a bit of people watching, listened to a band in the ocean plaza...they were ok..decided we were getting old and probably needed to go back to bed...so off to get tea and water and up to the room....hubby's sugar was low again. WHAT???? After that big meal...so off I went and caught the tail end of the nightly buffet...a hot dog, some cookies a brownie and an apple...well he had some options....I almost slipped and fell carrying them back to the cabin...I should have known better than to try to walk across the pool deck with those shoes...this fat old lady does not need a broken hip so thank goodness there was no mishap...he nibbled on some of the food..then I remembered I had some candy from the airport. He ate two pieces and he felt better...we read for a while and fell asleep...tomorrow would be a lovely..fun day at sea......

 

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medsed

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Fun. Day at. Sea!

 

So... I thought we would sleep in. But, thank goodness hubby realized that would not happen and he ordered some smoked salmon and juice for regular delivery time because we were up bright and early. We took our time dressing and headed to the sea day brunch in the main dining room. Steak and eggs..why of course...it was good but not as good as it was the first day...the steak was a bit tough...but I survived and was plenty full. I cannot remember for the life of me what hubby ate but I know he had fruit and some other things and was quite full as well.

We decided to stroll around a bit and then headed up to the sorts deck.

There was a bean bag toss tournament going on so we couldn't play shuffleboard...hubby was determined to teach me so we did mini golf instead. We had a lot of laughs as I am no golfer...thankfully he is a patient man...he is quite a golfer and just chuckled as,he watched me try in earnest to get that danged ball into that little hole. For the record...twice when he wasn't looking I grabbed the ball and dropped it in the cup..after eight tries I figured what's the difference and I beat him on one hole...the ship rocked a bit or the wind blew and my ball just sorted briefly,stopped and then rolled,in...so thank you Mother Nature for the helping hand...we were absolutely laughing out loud over that one. The views from up there were spectacular! When we went back down to the sports deck there were two kids messing around with the shuffle board stuff. We sat on a bench and they lost interest rather quickly. It was our turn to play..omg. Did I ever stink at that....another passenger saw me struggling and gave me some pointers....I won!! I never win at these types of things...hubby was delighted to cheer me on...we had a blast. ,

 

Are you thirsty yet? We sure were...tropical,drinks on the serenity deck were definitely in order so off we went....after,lounging for a bit we decided,to play some trivia...and won..yay..then it was lunch where we got one Mongolian stir fry from Ji Jis and one pasta bowl from the pasta bar and shared them...got some fresh fruit as well. Grabbed a plate of watermelon and salsa,and took it back to our cabin and stuck it in the fridge for later...hubby took his pills..we read on the balcony and then we were off to the sports,deck for crazy..I mean hubby..to do the ropes,course...the line was long but he really wanted to do it..I read and enjoyed the view and then took pics of him as he did that course with wind near 35 mph....they do allow kids under the height on there and need to be stricter about that...I am sorry if that disappoints the little,ones but they had difficulty in some ares because they were not tall enough and it slowed the activity down tremendously. Also, parents, if your child is afraid do not force the issue...lord, there is enough to do and the rest of us do not want to hear you berating your kid or them bawling and begging to get down the whole time...that broke my heart seriously!!

 

After that, and it was a long wait we ventured into the casino. Nope, too smoky..I cannot do it...we walked around a bit..listened to some music..visited the shops...just relaxed on our balcony..which we LOVE to do and then it was time to,get ready for the evening...changed our clothes..went to the show...Epic Rock..once again we were,not thrilled but were entertained enough to last through the show..it started late and threw our night off for a bit. We went to dinner...had to leave before,our soufflés,though...sad face...or there would be no seeing the first comedy show. ,she was funny...we were then told that the next guy was repeating his show from the night before...bummer....we went to the atrium and they were allowing people to meet with the playlist players...we let Andy know that we thought his voice was really awesome..I even told him he should audition for Broadway shows...his range was truly remarkable.

 

From there we headed to the piano bar where Sonya entertained us for a few hours...then it was our usual tea and water...and a snack for hubby and off to bed...tomorrow we were heading home......

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medsed

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Time to go home...

we woke up a good bit before 6:30.....we were docked already...our captain had managed to arrive early in every port....quick showers, throw on something comfy for the flight home...

We went out and found our steward Michael...he was such a treasure...some pleasant goodbyes...handed him a thank you note with a little something extra and we were off to breakfast.The dining room was pretty empty and we got a table near they windows..we decided to have a nice breakfast alone...I forget what I ate that day but I remember a grapefruit half for me and smoked salmon for the hubby...ok, who is shocked at his start to the day at this point?? We were done eating and walking out when they called for walk offs to begin...now, we had a flight booked for just before noon and carnival had sent us a letter allowing us to walk off early..so we wanted and grabbed our bags and headed down..a long line...ugh..well, much to our pleasure that line regally moved..customs was as fast as could be and we were outside. We had planned on renting a car but budget wasn't even going to be open for some time...and they did not have a shuttle there yet...hmmm..we thought we might taxi to Budget and be first in line as they were horribly slow both with renting and returning pre cruise. We went to secure a cab when the woman and the cabbie said they had a shuttle leaving in a few minutes for the airport and room for two..55 bucks with the tip...perfect!! We hopped on and in spite of a rude woman who did not want to share the bench seat she was on..driver let her know she had to..we were off..I sat in the front passenger seat as hubby knew I might get a little testy with the Seat Hag..I mean seat hog.....

We were at the airport well before nine

 

Dropped our bags..Secured a wheel chair for hubby..why?? Well his stitches were to come out last night and Mr Nurse and I took them out because he did not want to wait until Monday...well the thing just sort of gaped...gross..I was worried that overdoing it might make it totally separate and he was not sure if it would or not...so wheel chair it was....he was NOT amused...but I wanted to play it safe.

Having deposited the bags we headed for our gate. We would be boarding around eleven AM. We went to the gate to let them know he was using a wheelchair as we had been instructed to do when we see our flight has been delayed....five hours...hubby was back on duty at the hospital tonight....eeeek. We explained to the gate attendant what type of nursing he does and how he is part of a team...not just a nurse on a floor...we asked for another flight...they had nothing and she would not look to see if another airline did either....we tried but the airport is so spread out and Southwest would not release our ticket for credit for another flight..as a matter of fact they would not help at all...so we were stuck...we would have liked to have left and had lunch with hubby's dad but we were informed the status could be changed at any time and we should not leave....soooo, we sat and sat and sat and had airport food for lunch and sat and sat and sat...they changed our flight time constantly...finally around 3:30 we boarded...we got all cozy on the packed and full of kids flight when....lightning...so we sat and sat and sat and sat...

 

Now, I must make a comment here...if a stewardess on your flight ever sits three unaccompanied roughly 8-10 year old boys in the same row...protest...really loudly....it was awful...one of the more senior flight attendants had to yell at them..between complaining adults...toddlers and infants that were cranky..and those three brats..and that is being kind...the flight was no fun....thankfully after an hour or so we took off...lots of turbulence..passengers and flight attendants reprimanding the boys who were a row behind us across the aisle..and one woman downright scolding them...we arrived in Philly....gathered our bags..and off we went with our son and his girlfriend...home sweet home.....

 

Final Impressions...

We had sworn we would never cruise carnival again after our last fiasco..I mean cruise and the very poor customer service we received....but, when carnival offered to make things right with a good discount on this cruise we took the bait and we are glad we did...we had a great cruise.

The Sunshine never felt extremely crowded although there were moments especially on the Lido near Blue Iguana and Guys where the poor design of the passageway is quite confining.

The ship was immaculately clean...no leaks or buckets were spotted. We did smell some funky stuff over near guys and we were told it was trash..and once or twice on deck five there was quite an odor. One day the men's Lido bathroom near the pool was incredibly vile but two guys from the ship went right in and took care of it...those poor men.....

The service was excellent everywhere we went. Portions were generous and the main dining room always had a few to many good offerings at all meals. Sunshine still had the older menus so we knew what to expect but. I think it was for the most part prepared better. We never got Luke warm or cold food and we never had huge delays between courses during meals at all.

The comedy club situation needs to be addressed...reservations..a ticket to come back and get in rather than 25 or more minutes in line would be appropriate.

The piano bar should have a clearly written rule about younger kids after a certain time.....things get a little silly and a little "fresh" in there after ten or eleven and kids put a damper on the experience...there should be a ticketing system for the ropes course as well..AND height restrictions should be enforced no matter how much a parent begs???the kids would simply pout and say OK but parents would argue for their kid to go on....and these people truly slowed down the process A LOT

If an elevator is a necessity for you, think twice about the decks that are attached to the serenity area..we were on eleven and there were cabins on 12 as well...there is often one elevator and it often repeatedly skips past those floors..making for a frustrating and sometimes very long wait.....

All in all, despite some weird traffic flow patterns and the things mentioned above, the sunshine really is a Fun Ship...everyone seemed to be having a great time...fellow passengers tended to be very pleasant....we steered clear of kid laden areas for the most part as many parents do not feel it necessary to have well mannered kids while on vacation...but I would imagine sailings that were not at the height of summer vacation would alleviate the need to do that...

 

If you haven't given the Sunshine a shot I would say go for it...with an open mind and intent on having fun...I really think you will

 

I am still waiting for hubby to upload his pics and then I will add some including a pic of the sign from the place where we snorkeled in Roatan..if there are other questions I will be happy to answer those.....Bon voyage to each of you and your families and friends as you sail in the future and thanks for reading this review!!!

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lindy56

lindy56

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Great review! What deck do you disembark from, and do you remember the name of the shuttle company that took you to the airport? We too have a flight before noon and a reservation with Budget, I'm looking for a backup in case we are lucky enough;) to disembark before Budget opens.

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medsed

medsed

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Great review! What deck do you disembark from, and do you remember the name of the shuttle company that took you to the airport? We too have a flight before noon and a reservation with Budget, I'm looking for a backup in case we are lucky enough;) to disembark before Budget opens.

We disembarked from deck three. The shuttle was the same company as the taxis right when you left the buildings from customs. I would be wary of Budget they are really, really, really slow...if I was not one of the first few in line I would seriously think about a shuttle...of course there were only two of us so it was about the same price...no gas or tolls or anything and really was a smooth ride...they were smallish busses.....there was a woman with a clipboard who helped us

It took us nearly an hour to return a car at that location and the line for renting and returning is the same, or at least it was when we were there...and the airport...took over an hour to get our car that morning...they had only two clerks and apparently they are required to try to up sell you a bigger vehicle or a convertible or whatever.....we finally said either write up the car we want or we will pay more over there and pointed to the next place down...we want what we reserved....the car rental experience was really rather unpleasant.

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travelerblue

travelerblue

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I just breezed through your terrific review very quickly. Did you ever make it to the spa? We are booked in a spa interior in 5 weeks. I have read that the spa is nothing to write home about which will be a disappointment after the great NCL spa we were just in on the Breakaway. But it will be nice to be close to the serenity areas so we didn't want to change our cabin assignment. I am glad you had a good time. I am trying to get my husband excited for our first Carnival cruise.

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medsed

medsed

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I just breezed through your terrific review very quickly. Did you ever make it to the spa? We are booked in a spa interior in 5 weeks. I have read that the spa is nothing to write home about which will be a disappointment after the great NCL spa we were just in on the Breakaway. But it will be nice to be close to the serenity areas so we didn't want to change our cabin assignment. I am glad you had a good time. I am trying to get my husband excited for our first Carnival cruise.

We used it once really....we had four port days so we were busy...but on the day we sued it we did the aromatherapy steam room and relaxed a bit on those heated loungers....hubby just felt like he didn't want more heat on top of heat...I rather enjoyed the steam. It was ok. Nothing really special...we might have liked it better of we had explored it more. We actually got the spa balcony for such a good price and loved being on the same deck as the serenity pool...very worth it...almost no kids around, no noise in the hallways etc.....again the elevators can be a real issue if mobility is a problem...other than that I think you will LOVE being in that area. Tell hubby serenity is really nice....go all the way up to 14 for a quiet time, good service and awesome views...check out a hammock...one of those round cover loungers or some lounge beds for two.....any cruise is better than no cruise and this really was a lot of fun and a nice itinerary.

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medsed

medsed

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Did you find the ship or your room warm? We leave in a few weeks and keep reading posts that carnival ships are warmer than they used to be (never had a ship or room that was warm) Debating if we should bring a fan.

 

Loved the review by the way.

 

 

Our cabin was often a bit warner than I would have preferred but not uncomfortable..the lido (Inside seating near buffet area) and the comedy club were both often unbearable and many people wondered if they had set the temps higher than they used to...we were never chilly or really even cool. We were not really uncomfortable but not totally happy either if that makes sense. Some guests did say their rooms were very warm

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medsed

medsed

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Love your review. Will be on her 10/4.

 

Can you tell me if the room safe needs the 'credit card' to open/lock, or if it is a keypad? Thanks!

 

Ours was a key pad. You do need a card for the lights...right when you come in the door. We had brought an extra one to leave in there and leave one light on as I hate coming back to a dark room, but the stewards are instructed to remove the cards if you do that and leave them on a night table or the vanity. We got used to it......

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