Surprise & the Sunshine - Oct 12-17 review with pictures

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='Familycruisers20']We were on the Sunshine last July and loved every minute of it! In fact, just today booked 7 cabins for next June (friends ). We had the best dining room servers! I hope we get good ones next summer !!

Question, was there any noise in the deck 5 cabins? When we were on the ship and in the dining room there was usually a loud engine vibration sound...I was nervous that that would be heard in those cabins.

My current cabin is below the galley, now I am nervous about the noise there too!

Great read![/quote]


No noise at all that I remember - loved the location.

Thanks for reading.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='Domino D']Enjoying your review. Seems very balanced to me, so I don't think you are complaining to much at all. I for one am glad to have an idea of how to set my expectations. You are not one of those people going "My vacation was ruined".... "There was toothpaste in my sink". You are simply saying there were some issues we haven't had before.

Glad you guys enjoyed your cruise.

Got to ask, why would a group of fellow Georgians even think you could get good fried chicken on a ship? Come on now.[/QUOTE]




LOL - I know - I said the same thing when Mary ordered it. I just wouldn't trust fried chicken on a ship - Mom's kitchen, but not on a ship!

Thanks for reading!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='wrigley80']I'm all caught up now. I would mind being left in Key West....I just love it there. I can definitely think of a lot worse places to be left.

I would be just fine living in Key West :D[/QUOTE]



We really enjoyed Key West too. Probably wouldn't be as bad a place to be left since it is still in the US.

So sorry about your news with your Dad. Hope it isn't too bad and please keep us posted. You'll all be in my thoughts and prayers.

[wrigley80]

[quote name='GeorgiaMomof4']We really enjoyed Key West too. Probably wouldn't be as bad a place to be left since it is still in the US.



So sorry about your news with your Dad. Hope it isn't too bad and please keep us posted. You'll all be in my thoughts and prayers.[/QUOTE]


Thank you so much.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Nassau –

Luckily Nassau wasn’t an early port so we could sleep in a little and still have some time before disembarking.

Glen and Collin went to breakfast early as usual and Mary, Hope and myself decided we would do breakfast in the dining room so we could use our free drink coupons. Glen doesn’t drink anything at all so I let Mary have his coupon. I’m not a big drinker either but love the Kiss on the Lips so I started out my morning with a Kiss on the Lips and French toast. What a combo – I know but they were both delicious. Our waiter that we had that morning was wonderful. I told him about our problems with dinner and he suggested we speak to the maitre d.

I wasn’t going to say anything about our wait staff but didn’t want to spend the rest of the cruise eating on Lido deck every night. I decided to stop at the maitre d station and talk to him. I told him our concerns and asked if we could be moved to a different section. He said he didn’t have anywhere else to put us but promised he would give our team some help to try and speed things along. I told him since we couldn’t be moved I wasn’t sure we would be back but it was okay that I knew the early seating was full.

We wandered around the ship for a while and enjoyed watching us port into Nassau. We’ve been to Nassau several times but I still enjoy seeing Atlantis as we pull in and the lighthouse.

After we docked we got off the ship and went to do some shopping. I forgot to mention that we did purchase the $25 coupon book at the shopping talk and had gotten several free things from Key West and planned on doing the same things in Nassau. We were collecting the free spices you can get at the Cariloha stores - haven't tried them yet but the look tasty.

I was actually looking for Whitney (my oldest) some diamond stud earrings for her birthday which is this Friday. I had priced them at the local jewelry store where I always shop so I knew what would be a good price. I had looked in Key West, but they couldn’t touch the price I had gotten at home. It ended up being the same in Nassau. For the size I wanted they were no where near the price of my hometown jewelry store.

I bought our foster son and one of our former foster daughter’s Del Sol t-shirts and we headed on to Junkanoo Beach.

[boaterette]

I am really enjoying your review. Thanks for taking the time to do one.

[LibbyJanesMommy]

[quote name='mikem1977']Great review so far.

Sad to hear about the new cruise director. I though Jamie Dee was for the Sunshine and was really looking forward to her for our December cruise.[/quote]

According to her facebook page Jaime Dee was training during this particular cruise. She's due back on the Sunshine this week I believe :) We're cruising the 29th and I'm pretty sure she's scheduled during that point.

[AtSeaWithChris]

GeorgiaMomof4, I'm loving your review but I have a question. Are your foster children permanent or still in foster status? I mean no disrespect but as a father of an adopted daughter it always irks me when I hear people say real mom or real father as well as real daughter / son etc. my daughter is my daughter and I am her father.

Looking forward to the rest of your review and I hope I didn't offend you.


Fist-pumping gleeful rum runner!!!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='boaterette']I am really enjoying your review. Thanks for taking the time to do one.[/QUOTE]



Thank you for reading and sorry I haven't posted more this weekend.

It's been a busy one but I promise I'll get back on here and do more tomorrow evening.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='MamallamaAndDaddy']GeorgiaMomof4, I'm loving your review but I have a question. Are your foster children permanent or still in foster status? I mean no disrespect but as a father of an adopted daughter it always irks me when I hear people say real mom or real father as well as real daughter / son etc. my daughter is my daughter and I am her father.

Looking forward to the rest of your review and I hope I didn't offend you.


Fist-pumping gleeful rum runner!!![/QUOTE]



Thanks for reading.

It depends on which children you are referring to. Hope and Collin are no longer foster children. Hope was adopted by us and we have permanent legal custody of Collin. They have both been with us since 2005. We currently have a 1 year old foster son who is still in foster care.

Just wondering, but I don't think I referred to anyone by real mom or dad or real daughter or son, did I?

No offense taken - trust me - I've heard it all.

[AtSeaWithChris]

[quote name='GeorgiaMomof4']Thanks for reading.



It depends on which children you are referring to. Hope and Collin are no longer foster children. Hope was adopted by us and we have permanent legal custody of Collin. They have both been with us since 2005. We currently have a 1 year old foster son who is still in foster care.



Just wondering, but I don't think I referred to anyone by real mom or dad or real daughter or son, did I?



No offense taken - trust me - I've heard it all.[/QUOTE]


It was just that you referred to your children as your foster children instead of your children. And it's really not my business but I was just wondering.

Thanks for understanding.


Fist-pumping gleeful rum runner!!!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Nassau – continued

We rented a lounge chair, a regular chair, umbrella, free soft drinks for all day for Hope and Collin and a frozen drink of our choice for Glen and myself – all for $30. I thought that was a pretty good deal for 3 or 4 hours of fun for all 4 of us.

The kids loved the beach – it was gorgeous even though it wasn’t very far away from the ships.


[URL=http://s1193.photobucket.com/user/angelagrant1965/media/Sunshine%20Review/2014-10-15NassauBahamas001_zps4ae5053d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa345/angelagrant1965/Sunshine%20Review/2014-10-15NassauBahamas001_zps4ae5053d.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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We had the usual ladies come by wanting to sell you their wares or braid hair. I did buy a beautiful wrap and Hope had her hair braided. They were friendly and if you weren’t interested a simple no thank you would do and they would be on their way.

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Collin and I swam out past the end of the pier and I got some great shots of the ships in port.


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We hung out for several hours and decided we were tired and hungry and headed back to the ship.

The walk back wasn’t bad – maybe ¾ of a mile to a mile but it really took its toll on Glen. Since his heart attack he has been doing cardiac rehab at our wellness center at home but for some reason regular walking is harder on him.

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He was exhausted when we got back to the ship so I left him in the cabin and went and got us something to eat. We all had a snack and decided we would take a nap.


Collin wasn’t tired – or so he said –

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We didn’t make it to dinner tonight. We just rested and showered and went up to the Lido deck and grabbed something to eat from up there.

Tonight was the night for the Hasbro game show and the Game of Love so we went to the Liquid Lounge for that. Both were good and the Game of Love wasn’t so bad that the kids didn’t get to stay.

We sat with Steven and Mary during the marriage show and they told us they had gone to the dining room for dinner and it was a completely different experience. They said they were in and out in 45 minutes flat. They said our wait staff had another waiter helping them and it was like a well oiled machine – which is always how it’s been with us on past cruises. I guess it did some good that I talked to the Maitre D about our concerns. Maybe we will give it another try on Thursday which will be our last night.

We had an early day again the next day as we arrived in Freeport at 8 so we called it an early evening.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Sorry it's taking me so long to finish this review. Work has been hectic since I returned and there is no end in sight.

I promise I will finish - just not sure when!

Thanks for following along - I know it's at a snails pace.

[susieq76]

Great review! I am enjoying it- thank you!

[amcjeep4life]

I'm enjoying reading this review, especially as I have a surprise cruise coming up in April. Luckily for me, it's with my nephews, so I can keep it secret a lot easier! We're taking the train to Charleston, and I'm telling them simply that we are heading to the beach, which we technically will be in Nassau and Freeport. Keep up the good work with the review!

And kudos for being a foster/adoptive parent. I have a good friend who has 2 fostered-to-adopted kids. I'm in the dog adoption business, but I know there are so many kids out there that need homes too.

[PathfinderEss]

[COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="4"]Thanks for your report and great photo's.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Roxxy]

Great report and photos !

How much were they charging for the braids on the beach?

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='susieq76']Great review! I am enjoying it- thank you![/QUOTE]



Thanks so much for reading - I haven't forgotten about you all - just been a busy week. I'm going to try and get through Freeport tomorrow night.


[quote name='amcjeep4life']I'm enjoying reading this review, especially as I have a surprise cruise coming up in April. Luckily for me, it's with my nephews, so I can keep it secret a lot easier! We're taking the train to Charleston, and I'm telling them simply that we are heading to the beach, which we technically will be in Nassau and Freeport. Keep up the good work with the review!

And kudos for being a foster/adoptive parent. I have a good friend who has 2 fostered-to-adopted kids. I'm in the dog adoption business, but I know there are so many kids out there that need homes too.[/QUOTE]


Thanks for following along. Hey - everyone has their calling - ours if for 2 legged little ones and yours for 4 legged! Hope volunteers at our local Humane Society and wants to bring home a new doggie every week!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='Roxxy']Great report and photos !

How much were they charging for the braids on the beach?[/QUOTE]



Thanks for reading.

I can't remember for sure, I'll ask Glen or Hope tomorrow and let you know. I know we did bargain with her on the price. She started out way too high for me.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

[quote name='Roxxy']Great report and photos !

How much were they charging for the braids on the beach?[/QUOTE]




I checked with my husband and he thinks we ended up paying $20 to have the front part of her hair braided. Like I said, you can bargain with them or look around for the best price.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

I'm finally ready to post more on my review. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long on this one. Once I start I usually try to finish it within just a few days so everyone doesn't have to keep coming back to see if I've posted anything else.

I have a good reason though - here he is -

[URL=http://s1193.photobucket.com/user/angelagrant1965/media/Sunshine%20Review/IMG_1441_zps83b1c39f.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa345/angelagrant1965/Sunshine%20Review/IMG_1441_zps83b1c39f.jpg[/IMG][/URL]


This is my new foster son. He was born last Sunday and came to us on Tuesday at 2 days old. He is the baby brother of our other foster son who is 17 months and has been with us since March. I've had my hands full the last few days so you can see why I haven't had a chance to work on my review. It's been an adjustment getting used to getting up in the middle of the night for feedings and diaper changes.

Anyway here is more of our trip.

Freeport –

We were up early and headed down to breakfast. Had a good breakfast because we knew we would be gone from the ship the majority of the day.

We docked in Freeport at about 8 and shortly thereafter we all headed down to disembark.

Evidently a lot of people were sleeping in because we rent right down the stairs and got off the ship. I was really surprised it was so easy.

We had never been to Freeport, so before we left I did some research here on cruise critic. Since we were on a budget we decided we would take a taxi to Port Lucaya and go to the Grand Lucayan Resort.

I read that you could do a day pass there for $15.00 which included use of all their pools, beach, chairs and umbrellas. It also said there were companies on the beach that offered all different types of water sports.

From what I gathered, there really isn’t a lot to do right at the port. It’s mostly an industrial area.

Once off the ship we headed to the taxi area and grabbed a taxi. It was $5.00 per person each way. We paid the round trip fee once we got to the Grand Lucayan and were given tickets for our return trip back to the port.

We headed to the Grand Lucayan and found the spot to purchase our day pass. It was $15.00 each for Glen and myself and $7.00 each for the kids.

The grounds, pool areas and beach were all well kept and absolutely beautiful.

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We were some of the first people there so we had our pick of chairs and umbrellas on the beach.

The kids headed to the pool of all places! That beautiful ocean and beach and they wanted to be in the pool.

Glen and I got in the ocean and it was really nice and warm which was unexpected.

There were coconuts lying everywhere and Hope, Collin and Steven decided they would crack one open and drink the juice – they didn’t like it. It was a neat experience for them though.

Mary and I decided to walk across the street and do some browsing. It’s just a short walk and there are several shops and even a drug store. Mary bought a wrap similar to the one I had purchased in Nassau.

We stopped into the drug store and got some drinks and snacks to take back to everyone else at the beach.

A word of advice here – if you plan on doing any shopping do it earlier in Nassau. There just didn’t seem to be near as many shops and places to buy souvenir type things in Freeport as there are in Nassau.

Steven decided that he, Hope and Collin would go snorkeling. He talked to one of the gentlemen who operate a water sports company there from the beach and I believe it was $35 for him and maybe $25 for Hope and Collin. It was about an 1 ½ to 2 hour trip.

They said they had a good time but didn’t really see a lot of fish. It was Steven’s first time snorkeling so he didn’t have anything to compare it to though.

The taxi driver had told us that they would be doing return trips every 30 minutes and it was about a 20 minute drive back to the port so we decided we wanted to leave about 2 so we would have plenty of time to get back to the ship and hang out there while most everyone else was still in port.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of walking today so Glen wasn’t worn out. We got back on the ship and grabbed a little lunch and hung out until sail away time.

Hope and Collin headed back to the sports square area (their favorite part of the ship) and I decided to have a final Kiss on the Lips and lie out in the sun on deck and watch sail away.

It was interesting to see all the freighters and the loading areas in Freeport. It’s definitely a different type of port than the others that we have been to.

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We sailed away at 4 and I was bound and determined to enjoy my last day and not worry too much about packing and getting ready to debark the next morning.

I stayed out until about 5:15 and then went to the cabin to get ready for our last dinner on the ship.

We did decide to go back to the main dining room again for dinner since it was our last night.

There was a definite change in our wait staff and their attentiveness and the speed in which the meal progressed. It was a much nicer experience than what we had earlier in the week.

As usual, the meal was wonderful and I had my final warm chocolate melting cake of the week.

Hope and Collin went to hang out with Steven and Mary at the Warehouse (the video arcade) and Glen and I meandered around the ship.

We decided we needed to check our sail and sign so we printed ours off at one of the self serve kiosks.

The show for tonight was Epic Rock. It was a really good show, but it was also very loud. I guess I’m showing my age because stuff like that used to not bother me. It was very well done though and the performers were outstanding.

Unfortunately our vacation was coming to a quick close and it was time for one last trip to the pizzeria and back to the cabin to pack.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Embarkation day –

We arrived into Port Canaveral earlier than planned and the announcements started that debarkation would begin as soon as we were cleared through customs.

Everyone went down for breakfast and got back to the cabin.

We had decided to do self assist debarkation because we didn’t have that much luggage and wanted to go ahead and get off the ship and head toward Ormond Beach.

We weren’t even ready when they first started calling for self assist – I think it was around 7:30. As soon as I put the last of our things in and checked the room we headed down. There was a fairly long line but it moved quickly and they even opened up another line for us to disembark from.

We were off and through customs by 8 and off the ship. It was really quick.

Out the doors and our park n cruise shuttle bus was already right there waiting for us.
We loaded up and headed back to the parking lot. When we got to the parking lot our car had been pulled out, the windows were rolled down and the trunk was up. Our luggage was unloaded for us and we rolled it over and put it into the car and headed on our way.

Park n cruise rocks! It was absolutely the best experience I’ve ever had with parking on a cruise. I would recommend them without any hesitation. We will definitely use them again if we cruise out of Port Canaveral.

Glen and I had already decided we were going to stop over in Ormond Beach and spend a few hours on the beach at our timeshare because we didn’t want to end up driving through Atlanta at rush hour on a Friday.

It was Biketoberfest weekend too and we had never been so it was fun to see all the motorcycles there. There were thousands of them. Glen and Collin really enjoyed it.

We made it to our condo and changed into our swim suits. Hope and Collin went to the beach and Glen and I sat down there and watched them play. It was another beautiful day.

Glen decided to go to Subway and pick us up some sandwiches and fill up the car for our trip back home later in the day. He got a surprise when a few scantily clad girls were washing motorcycles at the gas station. He laughed and said he was surprised that there hadn’t been any wrecks because he had to look twice to be sure they at least had some clothes on (I’m sure that’s why he had to look twice – LOL).

We enjoyed visiting with some people who are always there in June when we go on our beach vacation in Ormond every year and Hope and Collin enjoyed the pools and the beach for a while longer and we decided we had better hit the road back to Georgia.

We left Ormond about 3:15 that afternoon and made it back home about 11:30 so we made good time.

Coming up - some final thoughts on our Sunshine cruise.

[cruizinisthebest]

Very nice review and pics. Love the one with your son walking into the cabin. So delightful. Congrats on the baby and better you than me with those middle of the night feedings. I remember those days!:)

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Final thoughts –


Just a few random thoughts about our trip now.

As I said in m review, service was just not up to par on this cruise for us. I really don’t think we expected too much, it was just lacking and I’m not sure why.

This is the first time in 5 cruises that we haven’t left additional tips for our dining room wait staff and cabin steward. I considered even adjusting the regular tips but decided to leave that alone and just not do any additional as it certainly wasn’t earned this time.

If you like going to the Lido deck buffet but hate the crowds, get your food and go all the way to the back to the Havana Bar. The Mongolian wok and the Italian food is back there too. There are always tables available, there are drink stations in that area that have no wait, it’s quiet and the views are awesome.

Even if you don’t plan on going or think you might not enjoy it – go catch one of the dive in moves. It’s really neat and they do play some good movies. If you just need a nice quiet evening, it’s a good thing to do.

Go catch a show, slide down a water slide, try out the ropes course, play mini golf – do something out of your comfort zone. It’s kind of like “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. Odds are you’ll never see any of the people you cruise with again – so have fun. Life is so short – don’t waste it worrying about what someone else will think.

Read all the reviews on the ship you are going on or considering going on with an open mind. Everyone is so different and some like things that others don’t. There is never a one fit for all. Your vacation is what you make of it. Go with an open mind and not too high of expectations and you’ll have a great time.

Even though there were things about the Sunshine we weren’t happy with, we would sail her again. If nothing else for all the things she has for the kids. There was never a dull moment and they had a blast.

We are actually working on a family cruise for Thanksgiving 2015 and pretty much have it narrowed down to the Sunshine or the Valor.

For any of you who have sailed on both and can offer advice on which to pick – let me know. The Valor will be sailing out of Port Canaveral then though – not out of San Juan.

I hope all of you have enjoyed my review and hopefully I’ve answered some of your questions about your upcoming cruises. Thanks again for reading.

If you have any questions – fire away and I’ll be happy to try and answer them.