Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Sunshine 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise 9/8/13

[deladane]

We passed St. Mark's Square within an hour of sailing away, so I went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. As I mentioned earlier, we chose the early fixed dining time at 6pm because we wanted to have the same wait staff every night because of my mom's food allergies. We also liked the idea of eating dinner with the same people every night and getting to know them over the course of the cruise. I briefly considered eating at the 8:15pm late seating, but decided against it because I knew we had to wake up early every morning for all of our tours in port, so I thought we would be tired and want to go to bed fairly early at night. By eating dinner early at 6pm, that left us a few hours to enjoy the shows and other activities on the ship before going to bed around 10-11pm each night.

 

We were seated at a table for 9 in the back of the mid-ship MDR. It felt somewhat strange to eat dinner in a single-story MDR, since I was used to larger two-story MDRs on my previous cruises, but this didn't really impact our experience. We always had a good view when the waiters did their dance numbers, and we could also see the maitre'd Ken as he sang a song each night before dessert.

 

 

I know the menus are widely shared in other reviews on Cruise Critic, but I will post them again anyway. Here is the every day menu:

 

 

And here is tonight's menu and what I ordered for dinner:

 

 

Mom ordered the chilled peach cream soup for her appetizer. I love how they pour it into the bowl right in front of you!

 

Smoked Duck

 

Fried Shrimp

[deladane]

Seafood Newburg

 

Dessert Menu

 

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake (my favorite! of course I had to order it on our first dinner in the MDR!!) and the Bitter and Blanc:

 

After dinner, we went to the casino for a few minutes, then played 3 games of trivia in the comedy club lounge. The first game was Rock and Roll trivia, then movie quotes trivia, and the last game was the most fun... they used the video screen to show two celebrity faces combined into one picture, and we had to guess which two celebrities it was. Here is one that everyone knew immediately:

 

 

A lot of the pictures were hard to decipher, so we only got about half the questions correct. Oh well! After that, we walked around the ship a little more, then headed back to the cabin to get ready for bed.

 

 

When we got back, this little guy was waiting to say good night!

 

Up next: Dubrovnik, Croatia!

[navybaby1113]

Enjoying your review so far. Thank you for sharing!

[isismommy]

I look forward to my daily reading! Thanks!!:-)

[Club Disney Chandler]

Loving your review, thank you so much! We are going on our first Carnival cruise next June on the Vista, doing the 8 day from Barcelona, this helps so much.

 

Love your pics, they're fantastic, the ones in Venice remind me of some art we saw on our last cruise in the art gallery. The photographer took tons of pics in Italy and printed them on thin pieces of sheet metal and applied a high gloss finish. The were great looking, but at about $700 my wife said no chance. I have now discovered that Sam's Club does the process for about $30. If you have a Sam's near you, you should take some if your photos there.

 

You and your mom both have amazing smiles and she looks like she must have only been 10 when she gave birth to you! You look more like sisters.

 

Thanks again for posting, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

[deladane]

Enjoying your review so far. Thank you for sharing!

 

You're welcome! :)

 

I look forward to my daily reading! Thanks!!:-)

 

haha thanks! More coming soon :) I've just been posting section by section whenever I get a few spare minutes.

[deladane]

Loving your review, thank you so much! We are going on our first Carnival cruise next June on the Vista, doing the 8 day from Barcelona, this helps so much.

 

Love your pics, they're fantastic, the ones in Venice remind me of some art we saw on our last cruise in the art gallery. The photographer took tons of pics in Italy and printed them on thin pieces of sheet metal and applied a high gloss finish. The were great looking, but at about $700 my wife said no chance. I have now discovered that Sam's Club does the process for about $30. If you have a Sam's near you, you should take some if your photos there.

 

You and your mom both have amazing smiles and she looks like she must have only been 10 when she gave birth to you! You look more like sisters.

 

Thanks again for posting, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

 

Oh wow, that's great that you found my review! I was hoping people sailing on the Vista would benefit from this since there hasn't been a Carnival ship in the Mediterranean since 2013.

 

Thanks for the suggestion about printing the photos. I don't belong to Sam's CLub, but I have seen Groupon offers for a similar item/price. I currently have a few black and white photos from that cruise framed above my couch- I got larger prints made at Costco and bought black frames at IKEA so it didn't cost very much. Those metal prints are very cool though!

 

My mom will be thrilled to hear your comment considering no one has ever said we look like sisters before haha She was definitely far from 10 years old when she had me ;)

[RiotAct]

Very, very nice review Dela!

 

Question about the self-serve beer station: do they only have Bud Light? Or are their other choices as well.

 

Also, that "celebrity mashup" - Is that Bill and Hilary Clinton? LOL

[deladane]

Very, very nice review Dela!

 

Question about the self-serve beer station: do they only have Bud Light? Or are their other choices as well.

 

Also, that "celebrity mashup" - Is that Bill and Hilary Clinton? LOL

 

haha yup! It's Billary ;)

 

Not sure about the beer station as I never actually used it. Looks like it has 2 taps in the photo although only one was hooked up at that time, so maybe they have the potential to have multiple beer options? Has anyone else sailed on the Sunshine recently and know more about the beer station??

[deladane]

Tuesday, September 10th - Dubrovnik, Croatia

 

We were scheduled to arrive in Dubrovnik at 10am, so I woke up at 8am to start getting ready. Mom ordered room service on the door tag the night before and it was delivered right on time at 8am. The Lido buffet was very crowded this morning, and the lines were very long for the two omelet stations in the Havana Bar. I ate my breakfast and went back to the cabin to finish getting ready for the day.

 

 

We arranged to meet our friends at 9:30am in the lobby bar area on deck 3 so we could share a taxi into town. We went out onto the deck to take some photos as we approached the port... unfortunately, those clouds didn't look very promising.

 

 

We went down to deck zero to wait for them to clear the ship, but they said we had to go back up to deck 1. We were the first to arrive so we just stood near the stairs and waited until they started letting people get off the ship. Soon after, a crew member put up a rope and a line formed behind us. By 10am, there were hundreds of people lining the halls on deck 1, anxiously waiting to get off the ship.

 

 

They finally cleared us to exit at 10:10am and we were the first people off the ship. We got a taxi right outside of the gangway, and he quoted us 15 Euros for the 4 of us to go straight to the cable cars. It took about 15 minutes to drive there, and when we arrived, there was a long line already formed. There were one or two other cruise ships also docked in Dubrovnik today, but they arrived much earlier in the morning so even though we were the first people to arrive from the Carnival ship, we still had to wait inline behind them (boooo!).

 

 

 

We pre-purchased our tickets online, but needed to exchange the vouchers for a real ticket at the ticket window.

 

[deladane]

It took about 30 minutes for us to reach the front of the line, and the cable car ride lasted about 10 minutes. They cram about 30 people in each cable car, and there were two cars running at a time, going in opposite directions. The views were beautiful from the first second we left the gate.

 

 

 

 

Once we got off the cable car, we spent about 30 minutes enjoying the views. It was much cooler up on top of the mountain, and it was very windy and drizzling rain. They have a few different lookout decks, so we took lots of photos while we were up there. They also have clean bathrooms on the downstairs level.

 

 

 

We had a short wait to get on the next cable car going back down the mountain, and when we reached the bottom, we noticed the line wasn't very long to go up.

 

 

[deladane]

Once we exited the cable car station, we turned right, and then immediately after the bus stop, we turned right again to walk down the staircase.

 

 

 

We kept walking down until we reached a fork in the road where the fort was directly in front of us (there was a Mexican restaurant on our right). At the fork, we turned left and continued down the street about 50 feet until we could see the drawbridge. We entered the city here at the Ploce Gate.

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Dubrovnik is a beautiful old city and is very well preserved. Everywhere I turned, there was something else that was interesting to see and photograph. I wish we had docked earlier in the day so we could have spent more time enjoying the city, but instead, we had to quickly walk through town and along the Stradum because we wanted to have enough time to enjoy walking the city walls as well. Here's a few highlights from Dubrovnik...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

I had heard about a great candle store on the Stradum called Candle Kingdom, so I knew I wanted to check it out. The candles were beautiful, and they made them in every different color combination!

 

 

They were kind of pricey, but I decided to buy a small one to take home. They list the prices in Euros, but apparently they only accepted payment in their local currency of Kunas, and they did not take credit cards. I had not exchanged any money for Kunas, so the sales lady offered to take my Euros to the exchange place and get the Kunas for me. I think I probably came out ahead by doing it this way because I avoided paying any fees to exchange the money, and I didn't have to do the running around haha It took her a long time, but she finally came back and I left with my new pretty candle:

 

 

The Stradum isn't very long, but there are also lots of stores lining the side streets. Once we reached the end of the Stradum, we found the Pile Gate where we could enter the top of the city walls. While I was buying my candle, mom and our friends bought some gelato, and they were still eating it when they went to pay for their tickets to the city wall. Apparently it is considered very rude to eat while conducting a transaction like buying your tickets because the guards scolded them! They said that we would find it rude if they were eating when we came in to buy our tickets, so why is it ok if we eat in front of them? Point taken! Everyone quickly finished paying for their tickets and finished their gelato.

 

After we bought our tickets, we hiked up 87 very steep and narrow stairs to the top of the wall. Literally the minute we got up to the top, the skies opened up and it started pouring! There was no where to seek cover, so we took out our umbrellas and tried not to fall on the wet slippery stone of the city walls.

 

 

Luckily, the rain only lasted for about 10 minutes. Bands of dark clouds came and went all day, but this was our only period of heavy rain. It took 1 hour to walk slowly from the Pile to Ploce gate with many stops along the way to take photos. The beautiful red roof tiles contrasted with the blue water, and the views over the cliffs were breathtaking!

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

While we were talking the walls, I spotted both Buza Bars along the water. We opted not to spend our limited time in port searching for the entrance to the bars, but it was cool to see them from above.

 

r

 

 

Here are a few more photos from walking the walls...

 

 

 

 

[trippingpara]

Deladane, thank you so much for posting this again. I love your reviews! We're sailing on the inaugural run for Vista and it has almost the exact same itinerary. So excited! And thank you again for taking the time (twice even!) to do this awesome review.

[deladane]

Deladane, thank you so much for posting this again. I love your reviews! We're sailing on the inaugural run for Vista and it has almost the exact same itinerary. So excited! And thank you again for taking the time (twice even!) to do this awesome review.

 

Oh wow, that itinerary for the Vista inaugural cruise looks AMAZING!!! Thanks for your kind words :) I LOVED reading your Liberty cruise review as I am a huge fan of Puerto Rico and that Southern Caribbean itinerary. I hope you plan to write a review after your Vista cruise, and I can't wait to see what adventures you, Lady Trip, and Tripette have while in Europe!! :D

[deladane]

Sorry for the delay in posts everyone! I moved this weekend (in 98 degree heat! yuck!!) and have been crazy busy unpacking and getting organized. I will try to post more soon, but may be a bit delayed this week until I'm all settled in my new home :)

[isismommy]

Congratulations on your new home!:-) I'll be waiting patiently for more postings when u get the time. Unpacking and moving can be very stressful!

[erewhon]

Thanks for continuing your review.

Great photos.

Your descriptions and photos of Venice bring back memories of several years ago.

Hope you will be happy and soon be settled in your new home.

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for taking the time to recount this great cruise itinerary.

 

I'm loving the photos and never tire of seeing photos of Venice. It's one of those places where the camera just doesn't get a rest.

 

I'm happy to have found this today.

 

Good luck in your new home!

 

Norris

[deladane]

Thanks everyone!! :) We have been making lots of progress with unpacking, but it still kind of looks like a bomb went off in here haha I think I'll have some time to upload the next few posts tomorrow!

[isismommy]

We'll be eagerly awaiting! Lol :)

[NCTribeFan]

I have to admit I was a little confused when I saw the title and the the date you started the review. Two years late? Huh? :confused:

 

Then I read about the photos, etc. I also write full reviews, with photos, since I discovered Cruise Critic 5 years or so ago. I used to upload my pics to Webshots and then they went to being a pay site and since I declined to pay their fee, none of the photos in my old reviews show up. :mad:

 

I started using Flickr a few cruises ago and while I don't find it terribly user-friendly, I'm hoping my pics will stay in my reviews for a while. In fact, I spent one Saturday morning recently hunting for my photos from my Glory Bermuda cruise 4 years ago and uploaded them so I could put a new link in that review. I'm on the Splendor to Bermuda this coming October and wanted people to be able to read that review and see the photos just for the Bermuda pics.

 

I'm on the 11-night Sunshine Journeys sailing on 11/28. I'm always looking for reviews (and photos) of ships I'll be sailing soon.

 

Some day I'll do a Med/TA B2B. Well, in my dreams at least!

 

Anyway, thanks for doing this. I know how much effort it takes to write and post the photos.

[deladane]

I have to admit I was a little confused when I saw the title and the the date you started the review. Two years late? Huh? :confused:

 

Then I read about the photos, etc. I also write full reviews, with photos, since I discovered Cruise Critic 5 years or so ago. I used to upload my pics to Webshots and then they went to being a pay site and since I declined to pay their fee, none of the photos in my old reviews show up. :mad:

 

I started using Flickr a few cruises ago and while I don't find it terribly user-friendly, I'm hoping my pics will stay in my reviews for a while. In fact, I spent one Saturday morning recently hunting for my photos from my Glory Bermuda cruise 4 years ago and uploaded them so I could put a new link in that review. I'm on the Splendor to Bermuda this coming October and wanted people to be able to read that review and see the photos just for the Bermuda pics.

 

I'm on the 11-night Sunshine Journeys sailing on 11/28. I'm always looking for reviews (and photos) of ships I'll be sailing soon.

 

Some day I'll do a Med/TA B2B. Well, in my dreams at least!

 

Anyway, thanks for doing this. I know how much effort it takes to write and post the photos.

 

haha yea, I was hoping everyone would read that first post in this thread as it explains why I'm bothering to redo this whole review! Otherwise, it seems rather silly. I used Webshots for the photos in my Celebrity Summit review and lost all those photos years ago, but since that was 5 years ago and the Summit has been drydocked and renovated since then, I probably won't bother to re-post that review. I did consider just posting a link at the end of the review to see all the photos, but I find it easier to follow when the photos flow inbetween all the text, so I thought it was worth a few extra hours of work to repost it like this. I will post a bit more now before work, and hopefully a little more later today too :) Thanks for reading along!