Sunshine Report: Sep 27th, 5 night Bahamas with pics (HMC, Nassau, Freeport)

[DavyJoneses]

Loving your review... Leave on 11-8 doing the same itinerary.. We are booked at La Quinta which also offers the 40% savings for port parking. We are going down 2 days pre cruise to relax some in Cocoa Beach. It might just be me I do have some eye issues but I am having a hard time with the green writing .. it comes out kinda blurred.. is it just me?

 

Didn't know about the 40% discount...thanks for the heads up.

[CruzinScotty]

OK, continuing our tour of the Freeport dock area. We are around the older original buildings you see when you first get off the ship.

 

We left off at the fountain:

 

 

In addition to the chain bars, there is a local bar in this area:

 

 

 

 

A gazebo on the water:

 

 

This is all towards the aft of the ship:

 

 

A view looking from the gazebo, the bar on the left:

 

 

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[CruzinScotty]

They are adding more sea wall to expand the area:

 

 

 

 

 

Another store in the older buildings:

 

 

 

The area to pick up tours or taxis:

 

 

They like their flamigoes in the Bahamas. :)

 

 

You pretty much went to this area if you had a tour or wanted to get a taxi. There were a few people walking around. But, they weren't intrusive, over-bearing or rude.

 

 

It was very relaxing walking around and shopping in this area.

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[CruzinScotty]

Now, we enter Freeport’s Straw Market. We found the people of Freeport to be very friendly. They were not pushy at all. They were very easy going. Very refreshing, especially after Nassau.

 

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[CruzinScotty]

As you can tell, the weather has taken a turn for the good. In fact, it was really, REALLY hot this morning. DW and I both spoke with several people in the shops. One woman had the radio on, listening to updates on Joaquin. Freeport was expecting to start getting the storm tonight.

We’re heading west – continuing to keep ahead of the storm.

 

 

 

Be back soon with more.

 

Edited October 26, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

You would think this sign would be closer to where you enter the shopping area:

 

 

There are a few vendors if you want to try some local food:

More stores coming soon:

 

 

Senior Frogs and more souvenirs:

 

 

 

Local foliage:

 

Edited October 26, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

There were more name brand stores than I expected. Typical for Caribbean ports, but at least they are trying to improve and update.

In front of one store, they had this:

Can you make out the letters of where each note is? We thought this was very cool and not something we’ve seen anywhere else.

They even try to make a storage building stand out:

 

And, finally, we head back to the ship:

Overall, the shopping area in Freeport is small compared to other ports. But, given the expectation of just a few stores; we really enjoyed getting off the ship and feeling like we got a little local flavor. That's not something that happens in all ports unless you leave the dock area.

Next: Back to the Future

Edited October 26, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

It’s Lunch time!

So, what to have for our last lunch?

Here’s some pizza:

I didn’t have any this trip. But, it looks pretty good.

For me, I went back to my first day favorite, Guys, for my “Double Ringer":

Today, I added mushrooms, onions and bacon on the side and I hadn’t tried any of the meat empanadas yet. Today’s selection was pulled pork.

I'm used to the last day being a sea day. So.........

I COMPLETELY forgot today is the CHOCOLATE EXTRAVAGANZA!

Here are some of the choices:

It was too crowded to get photos of the center area with the chocolate fountain.

[CruzinScotty]

Here are some choices from our table.

A coffee infused cupcake from the Havana Bar and also the Rice Pudding:

Chocolate cheesecake, chocolate pudding, lemon cake:

The Lido Deck has a little more activity today:

Edited October 26, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

A few last pictures of the port area from the ship.

 

It really is an industrial port:

At lunch, when everyone heard a few of us met at the Secret Deck this morning, they wanted to take a look as well. Here is a pic to show that the port area really is pretty small. In the middle, where all of the palm trees are, is the Straw Market. The white roofs by the crane are the four older buildings. You don't get a good perspective of them from this angle:

 

A better view of the new construction:

The Ferry Express from Ft. Lauderdale is here:

 

Let's end with one more view of the fountain. It's in the middle of the older buildings and does show they are a good size:

This afternoon, I went up to the jogging track for a walk. Boy, was it hot. Luckily, I met some family up there. It was more fun having someone to talk to.

Coming soon: Sail Away, our final night at sea and debarkation

Edited October 26, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[Delta Dear]

I just started to read this review. The photos are not showing up until the Towel Animals on the Lido Deck. All of the spaces on early pages have a box of text. Can you do something that will make them visible, too ? I'd love to see all of your photos. Thanks.

[tdmullins]

Loving your review. Sailing the Sunshine November 8th. But some of your pics have exceeded your photobucket bandwidth. I would love to see all of them.

[CruzinScotty]

I just started to read this review. The photos are not showing up until the Towel Animals on the Lido Deck. All of the spaces on early pages have a box of text. Can you do something that will make them visible, too ? I'd love to see all of your photos. Thanks.

 

Loving your review. Sailing the Sunshine November 8th. But some of your pics have exceeded your photobucket bandwidth. I would love to see all of them.

 

UGH! I mentioned in the beginning that Photobucket and I don't get along....

 

Last year, after a while, the photos re-appeared.

 

I'm almost done with the report. But, I'll stop for now. Hopefully the pictures will come back and I'll start posting again.

[ahs2m2]

Can you please repost the formal night menu. I would love to see that. Thanks.

[ravensbad]

UGH! I mentioned in the beginning that Photobucket and I don't get along....

 

Last year, after a while, the photos re-appeared.

 

I'm almost done with the report. But, I'll stop for now. Hopefully the pictures will come back and I'll start posting again.

 

You can still view the photos by right click -> view photo in a new tab (in chrome, I assume other browsers have a similar option). It's not as convenient as just scrolling through the review page but it's an option.

 

If you want to host your pictures some place that won't cut your bandwidth every month, I personally like imgur (imgur dot com)

Edited November 17, 2015 by ravensbad

[NCTribeFan]

I guess Scotty decided not to finish the review. Too bad. We sail on Saturday and I was enjoying the review and the photos.

 

I used to use Webshots and then they went to a pay site, so all my old reviews now have no photos. :mad:

 

Now I'm using Flickr. I don't find it terribly easy to use, but so far, so good. However, I do NOT upload all my photos there. I take a lot of pics that I save but don't upload them all. I mean, I would enjoy this review just as much without 6 pics of the CD doing "YMCA," you know? :p One or two would suffice. I don't paste every, single photo I upload into the review, but I post quite a few and then put a link to my album at the end of the review so people can go look at the others if they want.

 

I mean, I love the detail. But maybe just upload the photos that you really, really want to include in the review. I no longer take a bunch of food photos, or of the menus, because those can be found all over the web.

 

Still, I do appreciate the detail. But I'd really like the rest of the review, too. So, don't be offended. Just trying to help you out with the bandwith issues. Take all the great photos you want, but no need to upload all of them and then run out of space.

 

Please come back and finish it, even if you can't include any more photos! :D

[CruzinScotty]

I’m baaaaaaaaack!!!!!!

Sorry for the long delay.

I didn’t stop the report because I couldn’t post new pictures. I had the pictures downloaded into two separate accounts; the last few pictures were on the account that was still showing. The account for the pictures at the beginning had room for the pictures, but I guess the amount of views is a part of the “free” account that I still don’t understand.

I stopped the report in the hopes that the earlier pictures would eventually show back up and those that might be starting the report from the beginning would be able to enjoy it in its entirety. Since that has happened; it’s time to move forward. J

NCTribeFan, I appreciate your post and enjoyed your recent Bermuda trip report. I hope you have fun on the Sunshine and hope you do a report on this trip as well. We all have our own styles of doing trip reports. I see many of your posts, you are far ahead of me in number of cruises, I understand the difference in how you do your reports. I have approached my reports as if someone had not read any reports on the ship and/or the itinerary I am reporting on. I did take a lot of photos, and didn’t put all of them on the photo-sharing website. I also didn’t end up using all of the pics I placed there. But, I like trip reports of all types. The ones I’ve posted so far have been picture intensive. Having said that, my future ones may be more similar to yours. ;) They will probably have a LOT less photos and may even take the format of mini-reports due to the time it takes to complete these longer reviews.

As I said when I stopped, we were almost finished; only two sections of posts – so let’s get started.

When I left off, it was just after lunch while the ship is still in Freeport.

Edited November 25, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

The afternoon and Sail Away: Freeport

This afternoon, I went up to the jogging track for a walk. Boy, was it hot. One DB/DSIL happened to join me. It was much more fun having someone to talk to.

I went back to the cabin to get clean up. Here are some Sail Away pics from our balcony. We turned around right where we docked:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

Here are some pics on the other side of the channel:

I decided to try using the cabin window as a mirror:

We weren’t expecting to see a car with some locals over here:

 

Next, it’s time for dinner.

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

Here is the Dinner Menu for tonight:

 

Some appetizers:

Frog legs:

Crab Cake:

Mango Soup:

 

 

 

 

 

[CruzinScotty]

Dinner and Dessert

Prime Rib – medium rare tonight:

Chicken breast with bacon mac and cheese:

The Dessert menu:

WCMC and the Souffle:

Earlier, I showed the dessert fruit plate. Someone in the family decided to do something different at dessert a couple of nights. They ordered the fruit appetizer! It has more variety and you don’t have to cut the fruit. I thought I had a picture, but guess not…..

Another helpful hint – I’m not sure if I mentioned this before. If you don’t see an entrée that appeals to you, or are trying to eat a little lighter; order an appetizer as your entrée. Just tell your server what you want served at that time. Tonight, someone had the crab cake as their entrée.

Next: An EPIC evening

[CruzinScotty]

My family was quite surprised with the crowd, or lack there of, at the Studio VIP show I went to the other night. After dinner, we had 15 minutes before EPIC Rock started. We thought we’d walk to the front of the ship and see if we could get in.

We went in on Level 5 and had our choice of rows that all of us could sit in.

EPIC ROCK was another great show! It's also another one that benefited from the lights and laser and graphics behind the stage. Most songs were from the 80’s. Songs like Heart’s “Alone” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

As you know, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a very hard song to sing; especially with all of the key and tempo changes. This is where having 8 different singers instead of two came in very handy again. And, any show that ends with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” is OK in my book.

DW and I hadn’t played putt putt yet, so off we went. It is very well lit to play at night.

And, we mixed up our routine a bit with the Dive-in-Movies. First, we finally got some popcorn! And, instead of watching the end of a movie, we caught the first 30 minutes of Pixar’s Inside Out. We liked the movie, but needed to head to the cabin to get some sleep for our early morning.

DW got a great pic of our towel animal earlier:

Coming soon: Debarkation and Final Thoughts

Edited November 25, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

Friday, Oct 2nd: GET OFF THE SHIP :)

[CruzinScotty]

We were up early this morning. I went on the balcony just as we were entering the jetty at Port Canaveral. They had a scrolling sign about a missile launch this morning “from 4am until 7:15am”. We looked in the distance and could see the spotlights, the missile had not yet left. It was fairly cloudy; I’m not sure if it launched or not.

We turned on the local TV to see how the storm was doing. Up to a category 4:

It doesn’t look like the rain is affecting Freeport (like they thought), or Florida. We could see some rain over South Carolina; but had no idea yet that they were calling for the rain that would come. And that we would really get 20 inches in such a large area of the state.

It was still pretty dark when we docked, but here’s a pic:

Debarkation:

We decided to carry our luggage and get off early with the FTTF group. We were giving up breakfast on board, but we wanted to beat the crowds.

There was a letter in our room telling us where and when to meet.

It was nice heading down the hallway with no crowds. It was GREAT not having to wait or fight for an elevator – especially with our luggage.

We went to the mid-ship Sunset Dining Room at the appointed time. They had Platinum/Diamond members sit on one side of the room and FTTF on the other.

After they called Platinum/Diamond; it was WONDERFUL to walk off the ship, go thru customs, load our luggage and head out of the parking garage in under 20 minutes!

We LOVE how close the parking garage is to Terminal 6:

We were lucky enough to be on the 1st level. You can sort of see that, heading in, you walk through the overpass and across the street directly to the terminal. Less than 100 yards.

Next: Final Thoughts

 

Edited November 25, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

A few final thoughts:

We enjoy cruising and cruising with family. It’s a great way to visit and yet not feel you have to spend every moment together.

The Sunshine is marketed as a new ship. In actuality, it was built in 1996 and has been updated as much as possible. Things like the Havana Bar, Serenity area, specialty restaurants, 2.0 upgrades and Caribbean décor theming are great. Just keep in mind that the stabilizers, size of the cabins and most original cabins are from the 1996 era (most not having fridges). These were not deal-breakers – just information for you to use for your own cruising pleasure.

I was pleasantly surprised by the 5 night dinner menus. I expected to have a night or two that might not be as good.

There were a lot less overhead announcements on this cruise compared to recent ones. But, it also seemed there were less activities as well. I have family members that enjoy trivia and bingo. There either was not as many trivia events, or the variety was not as interesting. There was definitely less bingo – one day there was none and another there was only one at an evening time it would be hard for many people to attend.

A cruise is what you make of it. I firmly believe “a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work”.

I used the “shaker of salt” theme quite a bit. This was MY experience on THIS cruise on the Sunshine. Take it for what it is; a sharing of my trip and my interests.

I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed sharing.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Happy cruising. :D