Carnival Sunshine Review 6-19 through 6-27

[homeschoolmom3]

You wear your bathing suit down to the thermal suite and steam rooms. We often just wore our robes from our rooms right over the bathing suit!

 

I did not see an interior Spa, I don't think they have them on the 12th but I am sure they are nice!

[godspoetry]

For months before our cruise I read the boards and gained a lot of information. Hopefully this review will do the same for others.

 

We loved our Sunshine 8 night cruise. When I first pulled up the Sunshine itineraries I thought the ports of Aruba and Curacao sounded great but then we looked at the dates. That cruise left on June 27 and our 25th wedding anniversary was June 23 so we chose the 8 day that went to Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Leaving on the 19th of June put us in St. Kitts on our anniversary and that sounded exciting.

 

A little about ourselves, my name is Kathy, I am married 25 years now to my husband Jon. We have three children, 2 in college and one in high school. While we have cruised with the kids before, our 25th anniversary cruise was just the two of us. We live in central Florida so we like being able to sail out only one hour away from home.

 

If you are reading this for a Carnival bashing review you will want to find another post. While I was informed of the positives and negatives about the Sunshine, I also take the opinion of others for what they were, their opinion. I enjoy cruising and go into a cruise knowing that some things won't be perfect but most of it will be great!

 

Day 1 Port Canaveral

 

It had been a few years since our last cruise so I had never heard of FTTF until I read the Cruise Critic boards. I watched daily for months and was able to purchase FFTF about 3 weeks before we cruised. With this in hand I knew to ignore the Carnival e-mail that said "Please only come and board at 2 PM for your 4 o'clock sail away". Who would do that? We left the house at 9:30 in the morning. Our son Matthew dropped us off at the pier just after 10:30. We immediately handed our two bags to the porter and walked to security. They scanned our passports and pointed us to the priority section. There was NO one in line ahead of us. We walked up and got our Sail and Sign cards and were directed to the main seating along the wall. There were about 40 people sitting in our area ahead of us. The Platinum and Diamond people were sitting in their lounge closer to where we had checked in. We settled in and before 11 in the morning they started calling off for wedding party members to start boarding. After the other priority people were called we were called. It seemed like a long hike to get to the ship but it was so worth the wait.

 

We found an elevator and figured out that there were only 2 that would ever go to our floor. We had chosen room 12012 Spa balcony. The dropping your bags off and unpacking before lunch was a wonderful perk. The room was a traditional sized room but the balcony was spectacular. There was a lounger and two chairs and it was covered! We had a spa cabin on the Dream and it was not covered. I learned that lesson. Off to lunch at Guy's Burgers to see what all the talk was about. It was good but there were many places to eat while on board.

 

We went to the spa tour and watched the sail away from the balcony. We explored the ship which is pretty easy to figure out as there are maps beside the elevators. Our dinner dining time was 6:00 in the Sunset Forward Dining Room. I had e-mailed the Maitre d' before the cruise to ask if a window seat for 2 would be available. He offered a secluded table by the window or a table for two looking down on the other floor of the Sunrise Dining. We went for secluded. It ended up being a table for four that was right by the window and we loved it. It was just for us. Danny and Hari were superb dining staff. They knew our names after the first night. We enjoyed dinner, went to the main evening show then crashed. When I get a computer literate child home I will try and add some photos.

 

Hi! I was just pondering how we got a good table in the dining room last night. We were thinking we would have to go to the dining room the day of the cruise to talk to him... Do you happen to have the email for the Maitre d' for the Sunshine that you could give me so I could do the same and any suggestions for how we could also get such a great table! Thank you! :)

[homeschoolmom3]

We just sent a nice message here for the table!

 

SHmaitred@carnival.com

 

They got back to us about a week before the cruise.

[homeschoolmom3]

Day 5 St. Kitts and our 25th Wedding Anniversary!

 

I have to say I was a little hesitant about St. Kitts due to the shopping and excursion talk where they kept reiterating about only shop in Carnival sponsored shops and only use Carnival shore excursions. I was picturing Belize the first time we went and it was a crazy place. We had booked a tour of the island through Thenford Grey Tours. Cruise critic and Trip Advisor had rated them very high.

 

We had a room service breakfast out on our balcony so we could watch our arrival. We had a 10:30 tour so we left the ship as soon as they would let us and easily found our guide. We were going to be driven around by Thenford's brother Sackville. He was a wonderful tour guide. We were in an air-conditioned van and had 6 other people fro our cruise with us. The couple that sat in front of us were from the city that is right beside ours. We also had a family of four sitting behind us. We drove through Basseterre and learned about the history of the island and the city then out to Romney Manor and the Caribelle Batik shop. Sackville gave us a wonderful tour of the gardens and then we watched how the ladies make Batik. There is a wonderful store there and I bought a beautiful dress for myself and one for my daughter. Thenford met us later on our tour ( He was with another group) and he had painted on the back window of the van Happy Silver 25th Wedding Anniversary Kathy and Jon. Such a nice tour group. I highly recommend them.

 

Our next stop was Brimstone Hill Fortress. Getting up to the Fortress was interesting. It was created due to the volcano right next door and on certain days you could smell sulfur. Fortunately for us the wind was blowing and we could not smell anything. The turns and gates that we went through were so tight that there were not side mirrors on the van. We are teaching our 15 year old to drive right now and I have no idea how they teach their children to drive. The views form the top of the fort are breathtaking. Worth the climb. Then we went to a part of the island where you can take pictures of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Carribean Sea on the other. Touristy shops there that we avoided. The family of four wanted dropped off at the beach to spend some time. Sackville set up a time to come back to get them and then dropped us off at the pier. We had some time to relax and get ready for our Steakhouse dinner at 555.

 

Dinner was very good. They offered free Champagne to us for our anniversary. Jon had my glass and I went for a glass of wine. I had the lobster and Jon had the filet. Both were wonderful. We were stuffed as usual and after we had dessert they brought out an extra dessert that the chef had made for our anniversary surprise. It was wonderful but we were so full. Got back to the room and there were 2 macarons waiting for us from the restaurant. We had a wonderful anniversary.

[godspoetry]

We just sent a nice message here for the table!

 

SHmaitred@carnival.com

 

They got back to us about a week before the cruise.

 

Thank you so much! Really appreciate it. :)

[homeschoolmom3]

Day 6 St. Maarten

 

It was towel animal invasion day. The creativity of the staff is so much fun. I have many pictures. You need to take pictures fast as the little ones on the ship pic a favorite and take off with their new possession.

 

Jon decided he did not want to get off the ship so I booked a shore excursion through Carnival. I have to say the shore excursions with other excursion groups was more organized. We were out on the dock hunting for someone with our sign and it took a long time to gather our group. I was amused that the bus we were riding had Diamonds International on the side. Sure hadn't heard that name often enough this trip. Without Jon I decided on the Butterfly Garden and shopping in Marigot. I had been to St. Maarten before and wanted to go somewhere different with the Butterfly Garden and I knew I liked shopping in Marigot.

 

The Butterfly Garden was beautiful and worth visiting. The owners love their job. There is a small shop and you are offered water, punch or rum punch. We continued on our way and were dropped off in Marigot and given a card from the driver about going to a certain shop where there was a free bathroom. OK. I had met a couple from our ship on the tour and we went shopping and then had some time so decided to check out the shop that the driver had recommended. It was OK but the bathrooms were really bad. the men's room was only a half door and you have to face that to get to the woman's. It was strange. Back to the bus and there was no sign of the driver. He had said be back at a certain time but he has no where. It is hot there, the fumes from the multiple buses was disgusting and yet we waited. Another driver from some other tour finally asked if he could help and went to track him down. I kept thinking if this is the wonderful Carnival sponsored tour, I truly am better off booking without Carnival's help!

 

He finally came back and offered to drop us off in town for shopping near the ship. This was one of the options listed for the tour. I chose to get dropped off but when he dropped us off (there were only three of us who got off the bus) he was at a gas station, said he needed to fill up and the shopping was that way. It was about a 15 minute walk to hit the street that we were told was safe to go shopping on and you had to go down a scary alley way to get to the correct street. Not my favorite experience as Jon was back on the ship. There are many wonderful stores in the area and I had fun picking up souvenirs to take back home. I tried to use up some of my coupons from the 25.00 coupon book and got a water wallet, necklace and a gem. The water wallet was glued shut ( my boys could not even open it when we came home), the necklace was interesting and the gem was plastic. When I asked what type of gem, they kept making up new words for it. I did get a bag from Del Sol that was nice so it wasn't a total loss.

 

At the end of the street there is a water taxi that I took back to the cruise terminal. It was only 5 dollars and so worth it as I was done by that point!

 

Spent the rest of the day in the spa, then our last formal dinner and we watched a little of the Hasbro Game night. As we pulled away from St. Maarten it was strange knowing that our next port would be home.

[tilliebob1919]

homeschool mom3, you mentioned in the early part of your review that you emailed your assigned dining room maitra d (Please excuse the spelling). Would you be able to share that address with us? Would appreciate if you could and TUIA.

[luv2cruz79]

Which captain is on the Sunshine now?

[homeschoolmom3]

This is the e-mail for the maitre'd on Sunshine!

 

SHmaitred@carnival.com

 

 

The Captain is Andrea Catalani.

[cruizinisthebest]

Enjoying your review and loved your disclaimer at the beginning. Keep it comin'!

 

We booked a longgg time ago. So ready to experience this ship for myself.

[Arzeena]

You wear your bathing suit down to the thermal suite and steam rooms. We often just wore our robes from our rooms right over the bathing suit!

 

I did not see an interior Spa, I don't think they have them on the 12th but I am sure they are nice!

 

There are only 4 (or 5?) spa interiors on deck 12. From the pictures and videos people posted, they are really tiny..... We will be experiencing them next August.:)

Edited July 10, 2015 by Arzeena

[homeschoolmom3]

Day 7 Day at Sea

 

I thought this was going to be a normal day at sea. We ate breakfast in the Havana area and of course hit the spa. We decided to eat lunch in Bonsai Sushi today. We had not been there yet and it sounded fun. While I am not a huge sushi fan I like the shrimp sushi and California rolls so we got to Bento boxes that had salad, soup and sushi. This is a pay for it restaurant but they did give us free edamame as an appetizer. The food was good and the chefs were entertaining. We got both desserts and decided that the custard was much better than the green tea cupcakes but worth trying. Then the excitement started. I overheard some fellow guests talking about the ship moving. The ship is always moving unless we are in port so I went back to eating. We were just about done when an alarm went off. The doors behind us were shutting. I asked Jon, so if the Sushi restaurant is on fire they close us in to save the majority? The alarm continued, the doors kept opening and closing and we decided it was time to leave and left during a door opening time.

 

Then an announcement came on that said we may have noticed that the ship had changed course and picked up speed. Hmmm, must have been what the fellow passengers were discussing. We had a medical emergency onboard and were headed to Puerto Rico for an emergency air lift. They may have to close down a deck or two for the safety of everyone. we went back to our cabin and saw on the tv that we were at 22 knots and for the first time I felt the ship move. We had felt gentle movement but this was different, the you could lose your balance movement.

 

They asked us to pray for the person and family. Ship activities kept on so we went to tea time to eat again. The back of the ship was really shaking from the engines working so hard. Glasses were rattling. We were really glad we had a room at the front of the ship. Around 4:30ish or so we were back in our room when we heard the helicopter. It circled the ship and then stayed on our side of the ship. We could look over and see people watching from the open deck but all of us on our balconies were very close. The helicopter took the woman away and then came back and got a nurse. Her family had to stay onboard. I can't imagine how they felt.

 

Excitement over we turned back towards home.

[CammieO]

You wear your bathing suit down to the thermal suite and steam rooms. We often just wore our robes from our rooms right over the bathing suit!

 

I did not see an interior Spa, I don't think they have them on the 12th but I am sure they are nice!

Awesome, that makes things easy. Thank you for your response!

[AmberTeka]

I have all of the Fun Times. I don't know how to post them. Scan them. don't know how to use PHOTO BUCKET or such.

 

Last time I saved them, I posted online that I had them. And if someone would promise to put them online for all of the people who want to see them in order to plan their cruise, I would snail mail them.

 

Someone said they would.

 

I mailed them.

 

They were never posted. Which is not a major thing. Things happen to people.

 

DOES anyone know anyone who would post the Fun Times if I mailed them to them?

 

Would Zyodecoder, whom I admire immensely, be interested?

 

Thanks for any information.

[godspoetry]

You might be able to take photos of them with your phone and load the images on to the forum using your phone's web browser. It depends on how high the quality of your camera phone is whether that will be a big enough picture for us to be able to read them, but it's worth a shot. :)

[movingimages]

Day 5 St. Kitts and our 25th Wedding Anniversary!

 

I have to say I was a little hesitant about St. Kitts due to the shopping and excursion talk where they kept reiterating about only shop in Carnival sponsored shops and only use Carnival shore excursions. I was picturing Belize the first time we went and it was a crazy place. We had booked a tour of the island through Thenford Grey Tours. Cruise critic and Trip Advisor had rated them very high.

 

Glad you enjoyed your tour with Thenford's company. We hired him a few years ago, and it was great. Very professional! That ride up to the fortress is quite memorable. :)

 

Thanks for providing the email for dining room requests. A dear friend is working on our September Sunshine sailing, and we are trying to arrange to be in his section before we get on the ship. Thanks too for your review!

Edited July 13, 2015 by movingimages

[Arzeena]

Day 5 St. Kitts and our 25th Wedding Anniversary!

 

I have to say I was a little hesitant about St. Kitts due to the shopping and excursion talk where they kept reiterating about only shop in Carnival sponsored shops and only use Carnival shore excursions. I was picturing Belize the first time we went and it was a crazy place. We had booked a tour of the island through Thenford Grey Tours. Cruise critic and Trip Advisor had rated them very high.

 

Glad you enjoyed your tour with Thenford's company. We hired him a few years ago, and it was great. Very professional! That ride up to the fortress is quite memorable. :)

 

Thanks for providing the email for dining room requests. A dear friend is working on our September Sunshine sailing, and we are trying to arrange to be in his section before we get on the ship. Thanks too for your review!

 

Another vote for Thenford Grey! A fellow cruiser had arranged a cruise critic group tour with him on St Kitts. His tour was excellent! We had him as a guide.

 

Despite of what the shopping guide says, I loved St Kitts. been there several times and never felt uncomfortable going anywhere or shopping from any store! Shopping guides tend to elevate experiences in ports where they get their $$$$$ by channeling everyone to the "cruise line recommended stores"....they give a load of BS to innocent shoppers.