Matt & Ashley's Carnival Sunshine Review (Canada, Pictures, FunTimes)

[DCCruiser1013]

Thanks so much for the review. We're sailing on the Sunshine in February, and appreciate the ship info...

 

Thanks for following along - Have a great cruise in February!

[adam3313]

 

 

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the review. Honestly before the cruise we were less excited about the ports than we are usually for Caribbean cruises, but we ended up loving both of them, and we're considering visiting them again as land vacations so we have more time to explore.

 

 

If you write a Getaway review I will be the first one signed up to read it! We're really excited about it, but the NCL boards don't have a ton of reviews, but I'm hoping that changes once she comes back over to Miami.

 

I'll see about writing a full trip report. I did a semi-live report on the Dream in May, and may do one on my next cruise on the Magic next week. If I don't end up doing a trip report like that, I will certainly be writing a review for the Getaway!

 

Also, I checked out your Ballpark Tour. I actually just got to Coors Field last weekend. Go Nats!

[DCCruiser1013]

I'll see about writing a full trip report. I did a semi-live report on the Dream in May, and may do one on my next cruise on the Magic next week. If I don't end up doing a trip report like that, I will certainly be writing a review for the Getaway!

 

Also, I checked out your Ballpark Tour. I actually just got to Coors Field last weekend. Go Nats!

 

Sounds good! We really loved Coors Field (and Denver). Go Nats!

[DCCruiser1013]

Day 4 - Thursday, August 10 – Halifax, Nova Scotia

 

 

I got up again at around 5am to try to get more sunrise pictures, but the sunrise was on the other side of the ship.

 

 

 

We still had another 2 hours before entering Halifax Harbour.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

I went back to bed and got back up at 7:00. I showered, and while Ashley got ready I took a few pictures as I was able to spot land off on the horizon. We went up to get our breakfast to eat on the balcony as we came into the harbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking down the ship and getting our first glimpse of Halifax.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

 

The Queen Mary 2 and HAL’s Maasdam are already in port.

 

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

Piers 20 and 22 were already taken by the Queen Mary 2 and Maasdam, so we had to dock at Pier 31, which is a working, industrial pier, and not accessible for walkers. The port arranged for various busses to act as shuttles to the main cruise area, sort of like tendering but with busses instead of smaller boats. Therefore, guests who did not have excursions or priority status needed to obtain a debarkation number from the Ocean Plaza. Luckily, we had purchased Faster to the Fun, so we were directed to meet in the Liquid Lounge at 9:00.

 

Pulling into the Pier.

 

 

 

Busses starting to line up.

 

 

 

Georges Island sits in the middle of the harbor area.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

Just before 9:00 we headed down to the Liquid Lounge to wait to be called. More people started to show up shortly after we did.

 

 

Getting cleared by customs seemed to take awhile, and we weren’t directed to disembark until 9:45. The frustrating part was that there was very little communication that we were in the right spot. One crew member came in and had no idea what all of us were doing there, and no one came in to tell us we were in the right spot until it was time to leave. There was a decent amount of confusion in the lounge. For our Pride cruise in December, one of the crew members was assigned to stay in the theater to make sure everyone was in the right spot until we were directed down to the tender boats. Something like that would have been great.

 

In any case, at 9:45 we started shuffling down to the gangway and were boarding our shuttle bus to the main cruise terminal. We were told the ride could take 15 minutes, but it was more like 2. The distance traveled was probably about a half of a mile.

 

 

Once we were unloaded at the terminal Ashley and I hopped into a taxi and asked to go to the Citadel. On the way Ashley took this picture of the Whale Tail through the trees. I had no idea what she was taking a picture of until just now.

 

 

With tip, it cost $10-12 CAD to get to the Citadel. The view from the front was gorgeous.

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

Canada is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and it’s doing a few special things to commemorate it, including giving away free passes to its national parks (the Citadel is under the responsibility of Parks Canada). I had heard about this a few months ago, and ordered a couple free passes which came in the mail a couple weeks later.

 

 

We were able to use these to get into the Citadel, though the booth attendant had a few of her own and she seemed prepared to give them to me, but was happy I had my own.

 

The Citadel is a fort that was first constructed in the 18th century to defend Halifax from attack. Currently it serves as a sort of living museum, restored to the mid-Victorian period. Among its most popular features are the reenactors portraying the 78th Highland Regiment.

 

Entering the Citadel with a Sentry standing guard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

We walked around the lower grounds before we walked up the ramp to the outer walls.

 

 

There were also some soldiers from a more contemporary era.

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to walk into a barracks exhibit.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

Then we headed over to the main gate to check out the sentry change. They fired off the noon cannon first, then proceeded with the sentry change.

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

 

After the sentry change, we headed over to the northeast side of the fort to check out their exhibit on trench warfare, a prominent feature of World War I, which took place 100 years ago. You may have noticed the pictures of the soldiers earlier were World War I era, featuring the signature Brodie helmets.

 

The first room of the exhibit featured a large 3-d model showing a battlefield with trenches dug in.

 

 

 

There were also maps showing the various fronts, and some personal stories of selected Canadian soldiers.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

Next was an actual trench that we were able to walk through.

 

Entering the trench. Seriously - duck your head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

This was a fantastic use of this space, and very humbling – as exhibits like this usually are.

A little before 1:00 we headed back past the new sentry and out of the Citadel.

 

 

We headed down Citadel Hill towards the city. The Old Town Clock is directly ahead.

 

 

 

Walking down Carmichael Street

 

 

Boooooooooo!!!

 

[DCCruiser1013]

Looking back up the hill towards the Old Town Clock and the Citadel.

 

 

We walked through the middle of Memorial Park, which featured Halifax City Hall.

 

 

And a memorial to Canadian soldiers who died in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

 

 

And an Anglican Church just past the memorial.

 

 

We continued downhill towards the harbor one more block before we made a left onto Granville Street.

 

 

Which became Granville Mall after a block. This is an area that was converted into a pedestrian mall and features a few pubs and stores.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

Granville Mall also features an entrance to the Downtown Halifax Link, which is an elevated pedestrian walkway that connects various buildings throughout the city. Ashley and I were headed to Casino Nova Scotia.

 

 

For a few years now, I’ve been collecting $1 chips from various casinos that I visit. After a couple trips to Vegas and around the country, I have near 140 chips. I played blackjack at one of the tables for a maybe 30 minutes and came out $40 ahead, plus my shiny $1 chip.

 

 

We then proceeded to head towards the cruise terminal along the waterfront on Harbourwalk. This is a 3km boardwalk that features several decent sized ships. There are also many stores and public squares with street performers.

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

 

 

 

 

The walk was very pleasant but by the time we got to Pier 22 we were pooped out! Ashley and I went into the shops that they had set up and got a couple t-shirts. We then boarded our shuttle back to the boat and were back on by 2pm.

 

 

We headed back to the room to drop off our stuff, then up to Lido to get lunch. Ashley got in line for Mongolian Wok, and I filled out another paper for the pasta bar. Despite there being fewer people in the Havana Bar area, the wait for my pasta was crazy long. They also ran out of bread, and apparently croutons because my salad had none. The pasta was pretty good though. Ashley’s lunch from Mongolian Wok seemed pretty dry.

[DCCruiser1013]

After lunch we decided to get some desserts from Lido and enjoy the nice weather on the balcony.

 

 

Carnival’s Lido dessert offerings are often notoriously bad, but everything on this plate was actually really good.

 

We took a few pictures of our surroundings

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

Eventually the Maasdam started to set sail for Bay Harbor, Maine. It was on the tail end of it’s 14 day cruise to New England and Canada from Boston.

 

 

 

 

 

After we ate Ashley and I headed up to the upper decks to see downtown Halifax from the top of the ship.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

We then played some mini golf. This was a pretty fun course to play on.

 

 

I took an early lead which I was able to hold in the end.

 

 

Afterwards we checked out the Sports Square.

 

 

And then headed up to our favorite spot.

 

 

We noticed the Queen Mary 2 was starting to pull away, so we went down to the room to get some pictures before dinner. This first picture is not the Queen Mary 2.

 

[DCCruiser1013]

She was clearing the dock, when I noticed there was a little extra fanfare happening in the harbor.

 

 

She was getting a water salute and an escort company including two tugboats and HMCS Summerside.

 

 

This was part of the Canada 150 celebration, as the namesake for Queen Mary 2’s Cunard Line, Samuel Cunard, was native to Halifax. A helicopter also took part in the festivities.

 

 

 

 

[DCCruiser1013]

This was very cool to see, but we had to head down for dinner as we were casting off ourselves. There was a bagpiper on the other side of the ramp to see us off.

 

 

Pictures of menus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashley started off with the fried shrimp and a Caesar salad. Her entrée was the braised short ribs. Her dessert was the buttered popcorn pot de crème.

 

I also started with the fried shrimp and a Caesar salad. I had the flat iron steak, and also had the popcorn pot for dessert. The flat iron steak can be pretty hit-or-miss on Carnival, this time it was really good. On the Pride we split the popcorn pot one night and were excited to each have our own tonight. Honestly this time it tasted a little different, but still not bad.

[DCCruiser1013]

After dinner we returned to our room to see it had been turned down.

 

 

And we also noticed the Queen Mary 2 off in the distance. It was heading to New York like we were, as it was on the tail end of one of its routine transatlantic routes.

 

 

We eventually noticed that the helicopter we saw earlier was still hovering around the Queen Mary 2, and it eventually started to catch up to us!

 

 

 

 

Before it reached us it turned around and started to head back to Halifax.