Carnival Sunshine Review - April 24-29 2016

[DoxieCruiser]

Looks like you had a great time! We sail next year and your review is super helpful.

[*Cassie*]

Some people opinions will make you laugh. Like u it works for us. I didn't view as a waste. I may just drive down 2 days before to visit. Thanks for the info!!

 

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Very true! And you're welcome! :)

 

I sure love hot dogs and ice cream, too, Cas!!!! :D What time should I be there??:p hahahahaa Loving this review! :) You're beautiful, girl!!:)

 

Haha, aww thanks! :)

[*Cassie*]

Great Review! I think the Dr. Suess parade looks really fun, too bad my little guys aren't so little anymore!

 

Thanks! Yes the kids all seemed to love it. Really cute.

 

Looks like you had a great time! We sail next year and your review is super helpful.

 

Glad I could help. Happy planning to you! :)

[firstlady@22]

Loving your review! We are going out in June

[narrow56]

Thanks so much for the review! We're going on the Sunshine with our 2 year old. It'll be her first cruise. This review made me so excited.

[jennifereliz82]

Thanks for the review! Husband and I are cruising on the Sunshine in November!

[h_blond2]

Great review...can't wait to read the rest!

[kmarie10531]

Love reading your review ! I was on the sailing right after yours . Although I had a wonderful vacation , the ship and crew definitely needed a break. Good thing they had a dry dock coming up .

[AndyT3]

We are (very) impatiently waiting for our cruise aboard the Sunshine in October. Thanks for the great review!

[*Cassie*]

Loving your review! We are going out in June

 

Thanks for reading! Not much longer for you now, enjoy!

 

Thanks so much for the review! We're going on the Sunshine with our 2 year old. It'll be her first cruise. This review made me so excited.

 

Glad if I could help at all! Enjoy!

[*Cassie*]

Thanks for the review! Husband and I are cruising on the Sunshine in November!

 

Enjoy your cruise! Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

 

Great review...can't wait to read the rest!

 

Thanks for reading. More coming soon!

[*Cassie*]

Love reading your review ! I was on the sailing right after yours . Although I had a wonderful vacation , the ship and crew definitely needed a break. Good thing they had a dry dock coming up .

 

Yes, I noticed little things as well.

 

We are (very) impatiently waiting for our cruise aboard the Sunshine in October. Thanks for the great review!

 

I know that feeling! :)

[*Cassie*]

Half Moon Cay

 

 

After getting ready, it was breakfast time again. Yay! As we were leaving our room they had started the announcements about tendering. At that point they were giving out boarding numbers and you’d wait for your number to be called.

 

I didn’t get a pic of the kid’s plate, but it was the same as the day before: pancakes, fruit, yogurt. This morning I wanted to try out the made to order omelette bar. I can’t remember what I all had put in it though, but it was really yummy!

 

 

We went back to our room to grab the stroller and beach gear. We happened to pick just the right time, because right as we left our room they announced that there was now open tender boarding and you could go right on down to deck 0. By the time we made it on an elevator and through the little security section, there just happened to be a handicap spot available for us to sit with the stroller and after a few more minutes the tender was full and we were on our way over to Half Moon Cay.

 

 

 

Here we go!

 

[*Cassie*]

 

You can see some of the cabanas to the right of the Captain Morgan’s ship bar and the larger villas to the left.

 

 

Here you can see the kids water area to the left and I assume that’s the private oasis to the right.

 

 

Almost there!

 

 

And we made it! We also lucked out and were the first ones helped off the boat, so we were able to quickly get a photo.

 

[*Cassie*]

We weren’t quite sure how stroller friendly the island was going to be. We did ok for the most part, but there were a few sections where we had to both pick up an end and carry it over when we got stuck. But there is a sidewalk path and road section that we moved along just fine.

 

We decided to first head towards the kids playground. On the way I had to stop to get this picture.

 

 

The map was a little confusing and we weren’t sure exactly where we were, but suddenly there it was!

 

 

 

 

[*Cassie*]

We played here for probably an hour-ish and then decided to find a spot at the beach. We debated where to stop, but I actually wish we would have walked even further. We ended up just a little to the right of the big Captain Morgan’s ship bar and, although there were plenty of open spots to sit, there was constantly a stream of people walking by.

 

 

I wish I could say I ever got to enjoy a moment of relaxing in one of those chairs, but with two squirmy kids that never did happen. Oh well!

 

Sophia was very excited to get out to the water, so Andrew took her out while I got Landon changed into his swim suit. I’m glad I was able to snap this picture of them. Apparently Sophia was upset that the pretty blue water wasn’t washing up to her feet, just the sandy color! :D

 

 

Couldn’t get him to look at the camera of course, but had to try!

 

 

The sand here is amazing! It’s so incredibly soft. I’ve never felt anything quite like it. Just an absolutely beautiful beach!

 

 

 

I brought Sophia out into the water a bit while Andrew played with Landon in the sand. Even though the weather was gorgeous, the water was surprisingly chilly. Sophia took a wave to the face and freaked out from the salt flavor and was done. Then of course her feet and legs got covered in sand on the way out and she was just over it. She doesn’t like getting dirty and just wanted to be cleaned up. And of course she didn’t like us trying to rub it off with the beach towel, so we had to pack up early and head off to find a bathroom.

 

 

 

[*Cassie*]

I got this shot before moving on.

 

 

And a closer pic of the ship:

 

 

While searching for a bathroom we happened to find the lunch area. And, chickens! Lots of chickens!

 

 

We finally found a bathroom, but there were signs up about not cleaning feet in there so we just told her we’d take her to the kids water slide area and she could wash them off there. Although she wouldn’t let us just wash them in the water at the previous beach area, she was happy with this plan (that’s a 3 year old for you)… So off to find the play area.

 

 

 

[*Cassie*]

It’s at the very beginning of the beach. This was the hardest area for the stroller, but we made it and she had a great time! Landon had fallen asleep in the stroller on the walk over, so Andrew stayed with him in the shade while I watched Sophia.

 

 

 

 

[*Cassie*]

It was soon lunch time, so we decided to make our way back to the lunch area. On the way there, Sophia was very happy to see the foot washing station so she could get all the sand off. Now the lunch area got super, super congested. When you first walk up to it from the road, it looks like there is just one long line. However, if you walk around, there are 5 or 6 different stations, all with the same food, and a line for each one. You don’t have to stand in that long line in the front.

 

 

Here is the lunch menu:

 

 

 

 

I made the mistake of not grabbing an extra plate to put the fruit on. Since it was on the plate with Sophia’s hotdog, the little stinker ate pretty much all of it herself! Lunch was good, nothing super special, but it hit the spot. For whatever reason though, they only have super tiny little Dixie cups for the drinks, so we ended up making multiple trips over there getting more and more to drink.

 

[*Cassie*]

I didn’t get a pic, but we did go back and grab some desserts. I’m thinking it was a brownie and some chocolate chip cookies. Once we finished up eating, we were ready to go back to the ship.

 

Along the road there are a couple little benches that make for a cute photo op!

 

 

We stopped in one of the shops, but there wasn’t much there. They had a few stands outside with hair braiding and such, but there was some work going on to the roofs there, so several of them were empty.

 

Sophia kept trying to pick up the shells on the fountain! haha

 

 

We made our way back through security and onto the tender. We waited a little while for it to fill up. I’m not sure exactly how long of a wait, but not too terrible. This time we had to wait for it to clear out for us to be able to move the stroller off, though. But it still wasn’t too long.

 

Once back through the security area, we went back to our room to clean up. And there was quite a surprise waiting for Andrew! I’ve heard some people have recently received birthday gift cards, but I assumed that was if it is during the cruise. Andrew’s birthday was a little over 2 weeks prior, but he still got the $50 spa gift card. How nice! Oh how I would have loved to use that…

 

 

After showering and getting everyone cleaned up and changed, I got Landon down for his nap, and Sophia and I snuck out for some girl time. We went up to the Lido deck and got a kid’s “strawberry daiquiri” and found some empty chairs to hang out together.

 

 

Love this girl!

 

[*Cassie*]

After finishing our drink, we headed back to the room since she was looking a little tired. Landon was still sleeping and I tried convincing Sophia to snuggle in and try to rest, but she was insistent that she wasn’t tired. She was instead complaining she was hungry. She hadn’t eaten much of her hotdog at lunch, mostly just the fruit, so I suggested Andrew take her up to the buffet to see if she wanted anything. They went to do that, so I slid in next to Landon to get some reading time. I had started the first book of the Legend book series and I was hooked!

 

A little while later Andrew walks in carrying a sleeping Sophia. Apparently, just shortly after sitting down with a pizza, she fell asleep mid chew! :D So he laid her down in her bed. She was completely out. Landon was still completely out, too. He started to stir at one point, but just flopped over on me and was immediately back out. These kids were exhausted!

 

 

So again, they were both out for hours, not wanting to wake up. But finally they were both awake and we were ready for dinner. Tonight I got Sophia a grilled cheese and Landon grilled ham & cheese.

 

 

This was my favorite dinner of the buffet all week. The chicken was really good and the short ribs were just delicious!

 

 

Andrew picked out a few desserts for us. I liked the cheesecake, but the others were just ok.

 

 

And of course this one just wanted an ice cream cone.

 

[*Cassie*]

Sophia was now begging to go back to the arcade. We talked her into playing at the playground a bit instead. Unfortunately, it was closed for Camp Carnival use. She could have stayed to play, but we would have had to go inside and check her in. We weren’t wanting to leave her, though. So we decided on some more mini golf. We even managed to catch the sunset out there!

 

 

 

The taste bar wasn’t open tonight, so we just went back to our room. Our towel animal was there waiting for us.

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up… Nassau!

[Jamman54]

Enjoying your review and pictures! We can't wait to sail on the Sunshine in September. We remember sailing with our boys when they were little. They were 5 and 3 on their first cruise. Such precious memories! Enjoy them while they are young as they grow up so fast! :)

[r_jen]

Please share how to make the frozen lemonade:) I have enjoyed reading your review.

 

 

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[MomPic]

Thanks so much for your review! We are on the Sunshine for 10 days soon!! Can not wait!!!!