Nicole721 Takes on the SUNSHINE: A Full PICTORIAL Review

[Nicole721]

Hi friends!

 

After a brief hiatus from the Carnival boards since our last Breeze cruise (we jumped over to RCCL for a wonderful Europe cruise last spring!), I'm back and ready to share with you way too many stories and pictures from our Christmas cruise on the Sunshine!

 

Background

 

If we've never frequented the same threads before, allow me to introduce myself! I'm Nicole. I'm (recently and still coping with it) 30. I live in downtown Chicago, where I work in Marketing for a dot com during the day and travel anywhere and anywhere I can and write about it on my blog in my free time (see, Mom, I do use that Journalism degree!).

 

My family (my sister Stephanie, my mom and I) took our first cruise eleven and a half years ago on the Carnival Paradise, and we've been hooked ever since. Stephanie had just graduated high school, I had just finished my first semester of college and it only took seven days for us to be forever in love with cruising. Now, we're all grown up, working and leading busy lives, so we cruising is kind of our family time. Together, we've been to almost 30 Ports of Call across the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America and seven in Europe.

 

 

So yeah. Really love cruises. But almost as much as I love cruising, I love writing about our cruises. I love sharing our experiences and photographs, and I love hearing about your experiences back. Writing these trip reports gives me the opportunity to document the places we've been and the things we've said and done and it's an added bonus if you find something helpful out of it (I always think of it as paying it forward for all of the reviews I read before our cruises :)).

 

Itinerary

 

 

We'd been to Aruba twice and Grand Turk more times than I can count, but we'd never been to Bonaire before, so we were super excited to visit a new place!

 

Why the Sunshine?

 

While we much prefer the newer ships over the older ships (and the Sunshine is an odd hybrid of the two), we chose this cruise mostly for the itinerary. We love Aruba and Bonaire was a new place to explore. Plus, the cruise going out of Port Canaveral gave us a day for Disney and four and a half sea days (sorely needed with the hours I was putting in at work leading up to the holidays!).

 

And we'd never been on the Sunshine. We have tendencies to repeat cruise on ships we like (this is how we ended up on the Miracle ::cough:: four times) and since it'd been over a year since our last Carnival cruise, we were excited to sail on a ship we'd never been to.

 

Let's Get This Started!

 

This is going to be a long one. It was an amazing eight days and I took a lot of notes...and more than 1700 pictures (What can I say? Bonaire is incredibly picturesque). I'm hoping to post a few times a week and I really, really hope some of you will follow along and make this even more fun for me. If you're reading along, I'd love to know it. If you have any questions, I'm happy to try to answer them. And if you're a lurker on these boards, you can also follow along on my blog or shout at me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

 

So let's do it! Ready? Set? Go!

[Nicole721]

Three flights in five days. It started with three flights in five days that crossed the country on a diagonal and stopped in the middle at home in Chicago for a whopping 26 hours. Clearly, I have no regard for my own sanity.

 

My boss asked me if I wanted to go to Seattle for a few days to work on our operational plan for 2016 with some of our Seattle-based teams and, well, I’ll never say no to a couple of days in Seattle. I love Seattle. I fall in love with the city a little more every time I visit. But the timing of the trip wasn’t ideal – we’d pushed our annual October family vacation to Christmas to maximize Stephanie’s remaining PTO days at work (she was short on vacation days after our nearly three week Eurotrip in May), which meant a week that looked like this:

 

Work holiday party on Friday (featuring Salt-N-Pepa!), pack for two trips in two separate climates on Saturday, early morning flight to Seattle on Sunday, even earlier morning flight back to Chicago on Wednesday (where I promptly landed at 1:00 pm and headed straight into the office for four hours of meetings, a short appearance at a team holiday party and then back to my condo for our building association holiday party), a half day on Thursday and then a late afternoon flight into Tampa.

 

To say I was low on energy would be an understatement. But you know, where I was low on energy, I was raking in frequent flyer miles like a boss.

 

 

Needless to say, this trip had virtually no planning behind it. I planned a short pre-cruise stay at my favorite hotel in Florida and I bought Mom and Stephanie tickets to Mickey’s Christmas Party for Hanukkah. And I planned to make no plans because I was exhausted and all I really wanted to do was get a tan and take some pictures.

 

So on Wednesday, I flew back from a productive trip in Seattle, unpacked and repacked my carry on and promptly fell asleep on my couch while giving myself a gel manicure. And Thursday, I went into work for a few hours to wrap up loose ends and then hopped on a bus and a train to meet Mom at O’Hare. From my desk to the security line at O’Hare was less than an hour. Public transit in Chicago fails me on a near daily basis, but when it comes to getting me to O'Hare, there's no better way than a ride on the Blue line.

 

 

Mom and I walked through security (thanks in large part to the dynamic duo of TSA Pre-Check and Priority screening) and power walked to our gate, at the furthest end of the American Airlines terminal. We were short on time because I was late in leaving work, so we grabbed a couple of salads at Wolfgang Puck Express and some coffee from Starbucks before heading over to our gate.

 

 

I put in an upgrade request when we booked the flight, but the empty first class cabin filled up a few days before our flight. We got called over to check in, where they only had room to upgrade one of us. My elite status on American allows me to upgrade myself and my companions to any seat in the main cabin at T-24 hours, so I’d already moved us into the bulkhead seats, and declined the upgrade so that Mom and I could spend some quality time together on the plane (read: so I could take a nap on her).

 

 

Boarding was a mess. The holiday season brings out either the best or worst in everyone, and it seems to bring out the absolute worst in people on airplanes. We were slightly late in pushing off because no one could find room for their carry-ons in the overhead bins, but once everyone and their luggage found a home, we went wheels up towards Tampa, and I indulged in my Chicken Chinois salad and then took a nap. A short two and a half hours later, it was 30+ degrees warmer and we were in Florida.

 

[Nicole721]

Mom rented a car for us through Alamo, and since she completed her check-in before arrival, we were able to go straight to the garage, pick out a car and leave. From the time we got our luggage to the time we were driving out of the garage was less than 15 minutes. Pro tip: always check in online before you arrive. Always.

 

The drive to Disney grounds was about an hour but it’s a pretty straight shot up I-4 and before I knew it, the lights of the Gaylord Palms came to sight, beckoning us home.

 

The Gaylord Palms is one of my favorite hotels in the US. We’ve visited at least half a dozen times in the past ten years, but it’s been a solid three and a half since our last visit. The hotel (and adjoining convention center) are amongst the largest resorts in Florida and really, there’s no words to describe it. It’s a breathtaking array of topiaries and lights nestled under a glass atrium. Walking through the atrium and taking in the sounds of the waterfalls, the shadows of the palm trees against the stone ground…it’s like coming home for me.

 

 

We checked into the hotel and opted into an upgrade to an atrium view room for an additional $25. So instead of looking out at the parking lot, our room faced inwards, with a balcony that looked out over the Christmas tree in the atrium, the twinkling lights visible from the comfort of my bed. It doesn’t get much better than that.

 

[Nicole721]

Even though it was getting late (we didn’t even check in until 8:45 pm), we needed to get some dinner and there was really only one viable option for us: Downtown Disney.

 

 

Except Downtown Disney doesn’t exist anymore. Did you know that? I didn’t. They turned it into Disney Springs a couple of months ago. Same concept, same stores and restaurants, bigger space. And parking garages, too. The parking garages were a major upgrade from the mess of a parking lot in the former days of Downtown Disney. The rest of it? TBD. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.

 

 

As we drove towards Downtown Disney, we caught the fireworks off of Epcot right ahead of us, each boom and blast of brightness saying “Welcome home. We’ve missed you, too.”

 

We parked in that shiny new parking garage and traversed Disney Springs from the parking lot on the West Side to the Marketplace area, stopping into our old stomping grounds at Goofy’s Candy Co to grab some sweet snacks for later.

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

And for dinner? Earl of Sandwich. An oldie but a goodie. For Mom, there was no other option. She loves that Caprese sandwich. I opted for a sandwich I’d never tried before (the Italian), and I really enjoyed it. But it’s hard to mess up an Italian sandwich, especially when you’ve got freshly baked bread as the foundation.

 

 

Italian Sandwich

 

Caprese Sandwich

[Nicole721]

We took our time heading back to the car, stopping to explore the new areas and walkways that were added since our last visit and to take in the Christmas decorations. So much was new, but there was enough held over from the Downtown Disney days of our previous visits to keep the nostalgia train running strong.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

Instead of running our errands like we’d planned on earlier when we had more energy, we headed back to the hotel to relax a little bit. Our room included free wifi and the television was already hooked into Netflix. We watched Legally Blonde 2 before falling asleep to the colorful twinkling lights of the atrium.

 

 

[luvstovacation]

Oh yay we were on this cruise!! Excitedly following along as we had the best time on this trip!!

We did Disney for the 2 days following the cruise....can't be that close and not do Disney!!

Looks like you guys are off to a great start.

[bingo3]

I will be on the Sunshine in May, looking forward to your review! Ahhh to be 30 again...that was almost 29 years ago for me, time does fly....enjoy it! :)

debbie

[Jeafl]

Looking forward to the rest of your review! We spent two weeks in Disney last summer and we too were surprised by the former Downtown Disney area. Lots of changes!

 

Can't wait to read more about the Sunshine, we'll be on it in about 7 weeks! 😀

[Love-to-ride]

Following along, great start. Also love your blog.

[Twintowngirl]

Have to follow along on this journey with you! We are on the Sunshine Feb5th with the same itinerary. Can't wait to see your photos! Thanks for sharing.

 

Deb

[NoDayButToday]

Following along, I saw some on Instagram already, but can't wait to see the full review!

[adam3313]

Following for sure. On the Sunshine in March!

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review!

[littlekid58]

Subscribing... thank you for doing this....:)

[tbo]

Loving this review so far!

 

I'm a Disney FANatic, I've made a trip there at least once a year since 2001. The new Disney Springs is phenomenal, love the new bridge. When we were there in September there were bands, singers, and performers throughout making for some great night time entertainment.

 

Can't wait for more of your review and more pics aboard the Sunshine-especially food pics! We leave for Orlando in 8 days, will be boarding the Sunshine on 1/24, and could not be more excited!! Of course Disney is the bread of our little vacation sandwich, Disney-Sunshine-Disney :D

[DDNY]

Really looking forward to your review! Going on the Sunshine 1/31 for my first ever cruise. Always great to follow another Disney fan! moved from New York to Orlando about 1.5 years ago and live just down the street from Gaylord Palms......such a pretty resort especially during the holidays!

[ohitssunshine]

Great review so far, excited to see the rest!

 

Also, you might have my dream job...

[cruzeluver]

Wonderful start! Your writing style is terrific.

 

We are booked on Sunshine for a 10 night Journeys cruise in May, so I am anxiously following along. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

[RuthlessBoss]

Really looking forward to your review! Going on the Sunshine 1/31 for my first ever cruise. Always great to follow another Disney fan! moved from New York to Orlando about 1.5 years ago and live just down the street from Gaylord Palms......such a pretty resort especially during the holidays!

 

Don't forget their ice sculpture venue they set up over the holiday:)

[pcvtmom]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! We'll be on the Sunshine in March. Thanks for investing your time in a trip review.

[h_blond2]

I can't wait to read the rest of your review!

[topofE]

I just booked Sunshine last night for a full year from now this week. Soaking in all the reviews and pics I can take. Looking forward to hearing more!

[crusinpsychRN]

Enjoying the read and pics.

-30-