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

[CruzinScotty]

Looking forward to it--thanks for taking the time to do it!

 

Thanks. It's a labor of love. :D

[Justyman87]

Thanks. Feel free to ask questions along the way. I got pics of most areas except the Spa, Camp Carnival and not enough pics of the upper Serenity Deck.

 

 

Great! I will have a whole list for you soon. Lol!

Thanks again.

[CruzinScotty]

One of my brothers and SIL had arrived ahead of us and were conveniently in the room next door. Once we settled in, we walked to the Cocoa Beach Pier for dinner. Here are a few pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, no food pics tonight. I was tired from the long ride and enjoying the company. And maybe a drink. ;)

 

We ate at Pelican's and enjoyed shrimp (hot, cold and in a salad) and also fish tacos. When dining on the ocean, one must have seafood, right?

We then walked to the end of the pier to enjoy the local atmosphere.

We walked back on the beach; our first chance to get our feet in the sand.

We're just two nights away from the Super Full Moon.

 

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[isismommy]

Thanks. How lucky you live in Florida with so many ports within a few hours drive.

 

I'll admit it does make cruising pretty easy... not having to weigh my luggage or pack lightly for a plane ride.. I'd be in big trouble if I had to try to downsize! lol And we do have an easy drive to any port in FL... I see u traveled from SC, hope u are ok there with all the flooding?! Prayers go out to SC.

[CruzinScotty]

Saturday, September 26th: COCOA BEACH as a Port-of-Call

[CruzinScotty]

One way for our family to extend our trip an extra day was to spend the day before relaxing in Cocoa Beach.

I was up early and went for a walk. I caught a beautiful sunrise.

 

Here is a better picture of the Cocoa Beach Pier:

 

 

 

I even made a new friend this morning.

 

 

A little later, DW and I then headed over to the free breakfast.

 

It's not the Lido Deck, but it's a decent way to start the day.

 

 

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[CruzinScotty]

They also have fresh made pancakes!

 

I call this the Xerox Pancake machine.

Here come's the pancake:

Here is my breakfast today.

 

Please note, I did NOT use all of that syrup. LOL You get two pancakes, DW and I each had one.

 

 

Here's someone to greet you entering the breakfast area.

 

Coming soon: the local beauty - of the hotel

[luvmy2kids]

I pack the night before...lol...we're about an hour away from Pt. Canaveral so its a quick trip.

[Newbea11]

I love this review. We will be on the same cruise jan 25 and we are also staying at the bw coco beach!

[CruzinScotty]

I pack the night before...lol...we're about an hour away from Pt. Canaveral so its a quick trip.

 

Nice!

 

I love this review. We will be on the same cruise jan 25 and we are also staying at the bw coco beach!

 

Glad you are enjoying. We've been staying at the BW Cocoa Beach for many years. More resort pictures coming as well.

[CruzinScotty]

I see u traveled from SC, hope u are ok there with all the flooding?! Prayers go out to SC.

 

Thanks for asking. I live in-land from the coast; but close to Charleston. My house is fine as is most of my friends and co-workers.

 

There are two things going on in our area. The flooding caused damage to some local roads and has been flooding off and on over many other roads for days. This has caused massive traffic jams. IE. I don't have damaged or flooded roads on my way home, but my 3 mile, normal 7 minute drive, yesterday took 30 minutes. The second issue is the water from the Midlands (middle part of the state - in and around Columbia) is heading down many different rivers to the ocean. The governor flew over them and said they can see the water heading our way. We don't yet know the effect of this.

 

Thanks for thinking of us; I feel bad for those more greatly effected.

 

They say we had enough rain in 3-4 days to end the drought in California. Mind boggling.

[Pirate Dude]

Excited to read your review. We'll be doing the same cruise at the end of January.

[CruzinScotty]

Excited to read your review. We'll be doing the same cruise at the end of January.

 

I hope you enjoy. I liked reading as many Sunshine reviews as I could find before our trip.

[CruzinScotty]

Everyone suggests you get to your port a day ahead of time, which we always do.

But, lots of times, you get in late or are so excited about getting on the ship that you may not have a chance to enjoy the local area.

 

Cocoa Beach is far enough south that a lot of tropical plants grow there. Remember the picture of the older section of the hotel? There are a LOT of beautiful plants in this area and around the resort. DW LOVES flowers, here are just a few of the pictures taken on the property of the Best Western.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sticking around. One more day of work; then hopefully we'll get onto the ship over the weekend. LOL

 

Coming soon: the Gang's all together

Edited October 9, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[*Cassie*]

Following and looking forward to more! We'll be doing this same cruise in April.

[wantocruisemore]

Looking forward to your review. Love the photos!!!!

[CruzinScotty]

Following and looking forward to more! We'll be doing this same cruise in April.

 

Thanks for reading. April should be a nice month to cruise.

Looking forward to your review. Love the photos!!!!

 

Thank you. The photos are posting better than I thought they would.

 

More to come shortly.

[CruzinScotty]

Since it was Saturday and no one was working, we told the rest of the family to get here as early as possible.

 

They listened and everyone was in town by 10:30! We were all in our happy place. Some of us haven't seen each other in a year, or even more.

 

Of course rooms weren't ready yet; but we were just fine visiting until it was time for lunch. We decided to head to Beef O' Brady's. It was right across the street, they have lots of TV's showing college football, plus - we had a 10% discount card from the hotel. Sounds like a trifecta to me. :)

 

The service was a little slow. You can see they weren't busy and didn't appear to be expecting a table for nine. But the wait was worth it. Here I had a chili cheese dog and french onion soup.

Strange combination, I know. But I knew the 2 hot dog option was too much and the soup giving me "two courses" helped prepare me for life on the ship! :D

Next, we headed to Publix for some soda and wine to take on board. It's conveniently located in the same shopping center. We love the location of the Best Western with everything so close.

 

After lunch the rooms were available. There was a snafu with one of the them. The housekeeper must have been a smoker because there is no way she should have released that room which wreaked of smoke. Sorry to offend any smokers. But if you smoke, you really have no idea how bad it smells to those of us who don't. And definitely a problem for someone who is allergic to smoke.

 

A room change was in order, luggage was moved; and we moved on as well to enjoy the afternoon.

 

We spent the afternoon relaxing, reading, visiting and swimming. Here are a few pool pics taken earlier in the morning.

 

 

 

Now it's time to get cleaned up for the evening.

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Edited October 9, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

Now it's time for our Special Night at the Steakhouse. After making reservations ahead of time, we left our cabins and walked to the up-charge steakhouse for a wonderful dinner.

 

Wait a minute...... We're not on the ship yet. ;)

 

Back to reality. We decided that with only 5 nights on board we would not do any specialty restaurants this trip. So tonight, we hit the Backwoods Steakhouse next to the Best Western. We had a great meal there a few years ago.

So, it's close enough to walk to, the food is good, and we also had a 15% discount from the BW for this restaurant as well. Another trifecta. Never let it be said that the Scotty Family doesn't look out for a good deal!

Here is my rib eye. It was as good as I remembered.

Afterwards, some of us decided to head on a little excursion to:

I think this is the most famous Ron Jon's, but if memory serves me correct from a previous visit, this is actually the 2nd location. The original Ron Jon's is up on the Jersey Shore. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

Here as a few pictures:

 

DW taking a picture of me taking a picture. LOL

 

Need a t-shirt, anyone?

Some purchases were made. Yes, I bought a t-shirt; it's a tradition! We then headed back to the hotel.

 

And now, it's time for a wonderful, restful night's sleep before we head for the ship.

Coming soon: A Special Request we made to the Best Western

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[Macklovin38]

Thanks so much for doing this review!! I've enjoyed coming home from work and reading the new entries.

[EBONI325]

Thanks for your review, I have a little over a year to sail on the Sunshine from Charleston.

[CruzinScotty]

Thanks so much for doing this review!! I've enjoyed coming home from work and reading the new entries.

 

Thanks for reading. I love reading trip reports as well.

 

Thanks for your review, I have a little over a year to sail on the Sunshine from Charleston.

 

Thanks. It's funny, I live near Charleston. I drove to Port Canaveral to get on the Sunshine and find out it's doing a few cruises from Charleston next year. You are from New York and coming to Charleston for the Sunshine as it makes it's way back south from New York next summer. Which cruise are you doing?

[CruzinScotty]

I’ve been a CC member since 2007, yet you’ll see my post count is less than 500. I gather lots of information, yet stay out of the fray of the “hot topics” that go on here. Most of my posts are from trip reports.

Of the information I have gathered, I’ll actually be mentioning three other CC members when I get to information I specifically got from them – and what my experience was with that info. :D

On to EXPECTATIONS:

So, what should I, and you, expect on the Sunshine? I hope you enjoy the pictures of the ship, I’m guessing many of you have seen similar ones along the way. You’re here for the story, right? ;)

I read as much as I could about the ship and wanted to form my own opinion. But, everyone has preconceived expectations no matter how open-minded you try to be.

To understand my expectations (from MY shaker of salt ;) ), in addition to gathering info on CC, I'll share with you a little of my cruising history. I was lucky enough to cruise as a teenager on three different ships that were 18,000 gross tons or less. I’ve also sailed on the 25,000 gross ton Carnivale, the 48,000 gross ton Celebation and on the 70,000 gross ton Carnival Paradise (Fantasy class). The Destiny/Sunshine was the first ship built greater than 100,000 gross tons.

What does this mean? I remember the “old days” of cruising on MUCH smaller ships. With activities like horse races and the Grand Midnight Buffet. But, with that came small, even tiny, cabins and 3 square meals a day in the Dining Room. Eat then or go hungry as they DID close the doors 15 minutes after your assigned seating time. There may have been Tea Time, I was too young to have cared about that, but otherwise – there was no Room Service (that I remember) and no 24 hrs pizza/ice cream. I also sailed in the time of no stabilizers. That means I’m used the motion of a ship at sea, much more than on the mega-liners of today.

But, my last four cruises have been on the Liberty (x3) and the Dream. So, I’ve gotten spoiled by some of the newer amenities as well.

This makes me a mixed bag of tricks, and it’s time to move on.

 

We really should get ON the ship with today's postings. LOL

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Edited October 10, 2015 by CruzinScotty

[CruzinScotty]

Sunday, Sept. 27th: EMBARKATION DAY

[CruzinScotty]

So, where were we? Oh yes, a wonderful, restful night's sleep.

Yeah.... right, that ain’t happenin’……

There's too much excitement in the air and too much fun to think about to be sleeping. Anyone with me on this? LOL

I was awake at 5:30 and later went for a walk. At 6:20, I went to the boardwalk at the hotel to see if any ships were still coming in. I spy…a whale tail! It’s a distance away, but I think I can make a few details out that it is the Sensation instead of the Sunshine.

When back in the room, I decided to check the weather forecast for this week . There is a system in the Gulf with a 30% chance of developing, and another one east of the Bahamas with a 40% chance. But, there is a high pressure over the Bahamas that would keep everything away from us.

Yea us!

I need to back track a little bit for this next story. Way back - a full year. My last cruise was in Sept. 2014, an 8 night Eastern out of Port Canaveral. I did a trip report and talked a little about the Best Western as I have done this time.

Fellow CC member, fourkittys, posted that she had also enjoyed the Best Western and mentioned the homemade banana bread they have. I've stayed here many times, but I've never had homemade banana bread.

Now, let's go back to yesterday. The buffet pictures did not show banana bread. I asked one of the crew (so ready to be on that ship!) if they had banana bread. She said, "Sometimes we do have homemade banana bread, the boss makes it herself. Today is not your lucky day." Hmmmmm

I kindly said to her, "We're staying another night. Do you think tomorrow could be my lucky day". LOL She said to hold on and went to the back. When she returned, she said the boss would make some tomorrow morning. It goes VERY fast (obviously), and they would make sure to SAVE some for us. Cool!

So, now we're back to the present and arrive at the time we said we would, 8AM. Out comes the boss with the banana bread. She goes from table to table making sure everyone has a chance to get some. We had a few who had not arrived yet, but we were able to get enough for us all (since I did, after all, make the original request).

So, here is the home made banana bread:

In the hustle, bustle world we live in; it's nice to see such nice and dedicated people out there.

Next, The Best Western rights a wrong.

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