Hidden "gems" surprises, hints for Sunshine

[Derbie]

This will be our first time on the Sunshine in October. If you can recommend anything, and everything that is special, insiders secret, etc., we would greatly appreciate it. Also, DH and I are traveling with our 9 and 11 year old nieces. Any information for them would be appreciated as well. I look forward to your expertise!

 

Derbie

[katielynn5108]

Would love to hear the answers to this one. Sailing the Sunshine for the first time in November! Have a good time!

 

 

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[CruiseHealing]

1. If you want to sit near the Serenity Pool get there around 6:30 ish. When we went, all of the lounge chairs were taken by 7 on the first sea day. Or at least held with towels and stuff. The attendant will place the chair hog stickers with a 40 minute window and then he/she comes down and starts removing stuff. That opens up chairs. However, when the person returns it can get a little testy.

 

2. Try to sit in the uncomfortable chairs on the floor during the show. Because the stadium seats have little to no leg room and are also uncomfortable.

 

3. Go to the Havana Bar to eat. Very quite and enjoyable. People will start discovering it during the cruise, and it will get crowded by the last day. But still quite and enjoyable.

 

4. If you have Your Time Dining get there in the first hour. The lines and wait do get long.

 

5. If Jamie Dee is your cruise director. She is really entertaining. However, she reminds me of the one girl in high school that is always over excited and it does get on you nerves after awhile. But she is good at what she does.

[silkhair1]

Hopefully we get more helpful hints!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[leedm]

1. If you want to sit near the Serenity Pool get there around 6:30 ish. When we went, all of the lounge chairs were taken by 7 on the first sea day. Or at least held with towels and stuff. The attendant will place the chair hog stickers with a 40 minute window and then he/she comes down and starts removing stuff. That opens up chairs. However, when the person returns it can get a little testy.

 

2. Try to sit in the uncomfortable chairs on the floor during the show. Because the stadium seats have little to no leg room and are also uncomfortable.

 

3. Go to the Havana Bar to eat. Very quite and enjoyable. People will start discovering it during the cruise, and it will get crowded by the last day. But still quite and enjoyable.

 

4. If you have Your Time Dining get there in the first hour. The lines and wait do get long.

 

5. If Jamie Dee is your cruise director. She is really entertaining. However, she reminds me of the one girl in high school that is always over excited and it does get on you nerves after awhile. But she is good at what she does.

During lunch in the Havana Bar area is the Wok Asian dinning, at night the same area is Ji Ji Asian dinning. Need reservation but it is great food.

[kicia]

We really were glad that we knew about the Havana Bar on the Lido for lunch. You can always get a table because most people don't know about it. JiJi's Kitchen (pay at dinner) is open for lunch for free as the Mongolian Wok. Cucina del Capitano (pay at dinner) is open for lunch for free with a different menu.

 

Get to the shows early because they do tend to fill up early. The same applies to the Punchliner comedy club.

 

Enjoy!

[sb4ever]

The Red Frog Pub on Deck 5 is really nice and laid back. They have guitar music in the evenings. They also have a shuffleboard table, darts, foosball and dominoes in the back.

 

Blue Iguana has breakfast burritos in the morning :)

 

On the Costa Maya day (Thursday), the cabin stewards work at night and the towel animals invade the pool deck. It was great! You need to wake up early (around 6:30) to see it. We were in port by 7, so it really wasn't a problem.

 

The Library Bar is really nice. They have a large selection of board games and books.

 

There is a hot dog stand on the sports deck that is open all afternoon. Usually there are no lines compared to the line at the deli.

 

Loved the Havana Bar. They have tasty snacks at the bar too!

Edited August 14, 2014 by sb4ever

[medsed]

1. If you want to sit near the Serenity Pool get there around 6:30 ish. When we went, all of the lounge chairs were taken by 7 on the first sea day. Or at least held with towels and stuff. The attendant will place the chair hog stickers with a 40 minute window and then he/she comes down and starts removing stuff. That opens up chairs. However, when the person returns it can get a little testy.

 

2. Try to sit in the uncomfortable chairs on the floor during the show. Because the stadium seats have little to no leg room and are also uncomfortable.

 

3. Go to the Havana Bar to eat. Very quite and enjoyable. People will start discovering it during the cruise, and it will get crowded by the last day. But still quite and enjoyable.

 

4. If you have Your Time Dining get there in the first hour. The lines and wait do get long.

 

5. If Jamie Dee is your cruise director. She is really entertaining. However, she reminds me of the one girl in high school that is always over excited and it does get on you nerves after awhile. But she is good at what she does.

 

1. We never once got to sit by the pool but we were happy to go to the other serenity decks and find empty chairs always...not always the best spots but good enough

 

2. If you are short the floor seating kind of sucks unless you are in the very front. We found good seats in the middle of the stadium seating...not off to the sides. Enter from the upper deck entry ways. Leg room was decent and I could see over people in front of me

 

3. Definitely the best place to get a table for lunch. The pasta bar and the Mongolian grill are back there and are good

 

4. Other than the first formal night we never waited more than five minutes in line or a few minutes for a table for two. We did eat after eight each night

 

5. I think George was our cruise director. He was good enough but was not a very big personality

 

My tips:

 

The piano bar was more fun than we ever thought it would be

We found many areas of the ship very warm

The blue iguana had really good fresh salsas on their toppings bar

The sautéed mushrooms at guys are fabulous even on a salad

There is fresh watermelon at the blue iguana

 

The towel animal invasion is absolutely adorable and a great photo op. It takes them close to four hours to do this so let the stewards know you appreciate it

 

On port days, the buffet (which was IMO not very appealing) and the blue iguana were open till 3:30 instead of 2:30 but the Mongolian grill and pasta bar were not, guys and the deli are open longer.

Edited August 14, 2014 by medsed

[Supercrossfox21]

For the towel invasion, do they tell you what morning they are going to do it on? We are on an 8 night, with 1 sea day, grand turks, san juan, st maartens, st thomas, and then 2 more sea days.

[medsed]

Our steward told us to look for something special around the ship one morning...it was on our last port day...but we sailed a different itinerary.

[sb4ever]

For the towel invasion, do they tell you what morning they are going to do it on? We are on an 8 night, with 1 sea day, grand turks, san juan, st maartens, st thomas, and then 2 more sea days.

 

Ask your steward. They each have to make 7 animals after their evening shift so they will know which night they are doing it. Our steward, Jorge, told us about it in advance because he knew how much our kids liked the towel animals.