My Lovely Sunshine Cruise Feb 5th (yes, I loved it!)

[ladygal4.4]

Remember several posts back that I told you that I have an 11 year old son. Well I don't anymore *sniff*. I actually now have a 12 year old son. Feb 11th was our son's birthday, and we got to celebrate it. The jet ski ride in Aruba was his "official" present from us, but he was sung to at supper by our waiters/waitresses.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16, 2016 by ladygal4.4

[beanies098]

Looking forward to reading your review. We'll be on the Sunshine for the first time in August!

 

I hope to see another Jamman review! It was great reading your reviews before I went on the Splendor and Liberty. I'll be going on the Sunshine in October and it would be awesome to read a review of yours before then! :D :D

[sp29488]

Remember several posts back that I told you that I have an 11 year old son. Well I don't anymore *sniff*. I actually now have a 12 year old son. Feb 11th was our son's birthday, and we got to celebrate it. The jet ski ride in Aruba was his "official" present from us, but he was sung to at supper by our waiters/waitresses.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy belated birthday to your son. That's a great day for a birthday, since I also have a birthday on February 11th. Just a little bit older though, lol.

[reerun25]

Enjoying your review!! Thanks for sharing.. We will be on the Sunshine for the first time in May...

[ladygal4.4]

Happy belated birthday to your son. That's a great day for a birthday, since I also have a birthday on February 11th. Just a little bit older though, lol.

 

Thank you!

 

Enjoying your review!! Thanks for sharing.. We will be on the Sunshine for the first time in May...

 

I'm so glad! You'll enjoy it

[ladygal4.4]

I was very excited that this was done on our cruise. We didn't go to the other shows (for various reasons...such as I don't like loud blaring music and they were a ton of cool movies showing outside). So I went to this show with very high expectations, and had a lot of fun.

 

They do this show *just* like you're in a real TV show. So the announcer tells you when to clap, does a cute count-down etc. To be chosen to participate, Donkey had people in the audience guess the Guesstures video that was played. Of course, you have to scream/yell/jump up and down to be chosen to answer the question etc.

 

Word of warning - Watch the WHOLE video before giving your final answer!!!! Some are really easy such as football. But they got really hard. One looked like jogging, but at the end of the video the jogger got a cramp. SO the whole answer was muscle cramp. Then another one was ChickenPox. So it could be easily confused as the chicken dance or itching.

 

Before the show started, there was a continual video playing of the actual real game show that was on TV, and that helped to explain the various games.

 

 

https://vimeo.com/155910076

 

 

 

 

Both of my sons were chosen to play, however they didn't win the final prize but got a nice consolation prize of a travel Connect-4 game. The big winner takes home almost every Hasbro game invented...Monopoly, connect-4, yatzee etc.

 

There were 2 ladies who sat in front of us who cheered my boys on. They were as excited as we were to see the boys do so well.

 

 

 

Also, if you want to be chosen, make sure you can do a running game. One poor lady, who used a cane, got chosen to a game that involved running in a circle. She said afterwards her knees would never be the same!!!! LOL But she did so well, you'd never would have known that she was in pain.

Edited February 19, 2016 by ladygal4.4

[ladygal4.4]

Another video

 

https://vimeo.com/155910280

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ladygal4.4]

I wish I had taken some extra pictures of these areas, but honestly I didn't think about it until now.

 

One of the big complaints about the Sunshine is the lack of the 3rd pool. And well, I can agree about this. Is it a deal breaker? No, absolutely not. But if you really, really love the pool and don't like swimming with lots of kids, then your only place to go is the Serenity.

 

The Serenity pool is small, it does have the waterfall which makes it pretty cool. I only got in the lower pool once, but never the Serenity. February weather is still quite cool at times (even in the Caribbean) that it wasn't something I was interested in.

 

The Lower pool was busy with children most of the time. The few adults that got in there didn't last very long. I don't know if it was because of the kids or the coldness. The waves were pretty rocky 3 of the 8 days we were on board which led to high waves in the pool area as well. The kids loved this, but it didn't make for just standing around areas. The waves in the pool would really push you around if youre not careful.

 

Waterworks was great. I liked how it was separate from the main pool area. Obviously it was filled with giggles, laughter, and fun screams from the kids. I only did the Yellow slide once. The 8'ish flights of stairs up to the top was a bit too much. My kids however loved it. My 10 year old son probably did it 30 times. He didn't mind the stairs at all.

 

My 5 & 7 year old girls loved the kiddie slides and dump bucket. They would do it over and over and enjoyed it so much!

 

There is a good bit of seating over by waterworks. Only 1 day we had trouble with chair hogs there, but by that time I was slightly sunburnt that all I wanted was shade. It took a while, but I eventually found one.

[ladygal4.4]

Again, one of the big complaints about the Sunshine is the comedy club. And again, I have to agree about this. I really have enjoyed from the other ships the PG family shows. SO this review will only mention those, I don't go to "R" 18+ shows. I've heard enough cursing in my life in the emergency room where I used to work, that I don't want to hear it just to make someone laugh.

 

How it works is, about 30 min before the show you will want to line-up on Deck 4 aft. It's pretty easy to find, the line-up area is right next to the Steakhouse. The seating is horse-shoe shaped, and the far right and far left areas you can't see the comedian so you have to watch him on TV. And the room is kinda small for 3000 people on the boat, so if you just have to see the comedian on the first night and the first show, plan on getting in line early.

 

One tip: See if they are repeating the shows. On our 8 day cruise we had 4 different comedians and they repeated all the shows at different times, and the repeat show had a much smaller crowd.

 

Also, take a sweater! I always freeze in there. No matter how warm the rest of the boat is, for some strange reason the comedy area is cold! So I always end up stealing my husband's coat or snuggling as close to him as I can!!

 

Alchemy Bar - remember at the beginning when I said I don't drink. Well, I still don't. But I had the 2 coupons for the last night of the cruise for my free drink. I'm not crazy about coffee either, so I went to the Alchemy Bar to see what they could do. And OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I was so amazed! They don't have any virgin drinks advertised, so I told the "mixologist" that I wanted something fruity AND virgin. And then later when he handed me the drink I confirmed that it was safe for my 5 year old to drink...and he assured me it had no alcohol.

 

I'll call this one Strawberry Mint

 

 

And this one Blackberry Spice

 

They were both incredible! The kids were in Camp Carnival so they didn't get to taste the blackberry one, but they, like me, loved the strawberry mint.

 

The blackberry spice was a combination of cranberry, lemon, coconut, blackberries, and some sort of spice (maybe nutmeg??)

 

What made them so special versus just a glass of koolaide (pathetic comparison I know, but work with me) was the layers of flavor. The more you tasted both of them the more your tastebuds discovered new flavors.

I was highly impressed with both of them and can't wait to try them again. Alchemy Bar is a 10/10 in my opinion!!!!!

Edited February 19, 2016 by ladygal4.4

[RutgersKittyn]

Those drinks look delish! Hubby & I rarely drink, but I know we'll be getting the Gold free-drink coupons. Never even thought about the Alchemy bar for this. We will definitely grab a virgin cocktail there when we're on the Pride. Brilliant! Thanks for the inspiration & great review.

[SFplusP]

I'm curious how ordering the night before works with any time dining. Do you let them know what time you plan on eating?

[ladygal4.4]

I'm curious how ordering the night before works with any time dining. Do you let them know what time you plan on eating?

 

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. I don't let them know, but I could tell some nights the more difficult the changes to be made to my plate, the longer it would take for the food to arrive. Was this a big deal? Definitely not.

 

In reality, the only thing that was obviously kept warm waiting for me some nights was my Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. The nights that I was served quickly, it would be more of a pudding consistency...with the 'cakiness' just around the edges. The longer meals it would be more cakey throughout. But that dessert is so rich, I don't really care if it's pudding'ish or cakey. The taste was completely unaffected.

[*Cassie*]

Great review. Looking forward to reading more!