Sunshine comprehensive trip report 7/7/18 Eastern Caribbean

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[Bostwick girl]

Following. All of my family (DH and I, 2 sons and their wife and significant other, 2 grandkids and their husband/wife, and 3 great-granddaughters) and some family friends are going on Sunshine November 2, so looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Howlonguntilmynextcruise?]

Hey there! Curious about flying into Tampa vs. Orlando...how far was the drive from Tampa to Port Canaveral? Where did you leave the rental car? Sailing in April and starting to look at flights, but I never considered this option!

[Gin505]

Hey there! Curious about flying into Tampa vs. Orlando...how far was the drive from Tampa to Port Canaveral? Where did you leave the rental car? Sailing in April and starting to look at flights, but I never considered this option!

2 to 2.5 hours easy ride

[luckybecky]

did both your cabins have a fridge.I saw 1 in one picture which cabin was that .We have a large group going on the Sunshine & have a lot of cabins on deck 6 . 6202 & 6190 are 2 of them

 

Yes, all three of our cabins had a fridge. 6190, 6202, 6206.

6190 was the only one that had the extra cabinet and shelves.

[luckybecky]

Yay!! Great start...and I keep looking for myself in your pics! Can’t wait to read more!! [emoji16][emoji16]

 

Let me know if you find yourself :)

[luckybecky]

Hey there! Curious about flying into Tampa vs. Orlando...how far was the drive from Tampa to Port Canaveral? Where did you leave the rental car? Sailing in April and starting to look at flights, but I never considered this option!

 

As Gin said, it is about 2 hours or just a bit more.

 

We picked up a one way rental at the airport in Tampa and dropped it off in Port Canaveral. Then we took the rental car shuttle to the pier.

 

When we returned, we did a new, one-way rental from Port Canaveral back to Tampa. You don't want to have to pay to keep the car all week and pay to park it. You can just do 2 separate rentals.

 

For us, it worked out fine. We didn't mind the drive -- except for all the dang tolls! -- and it gave us a chance to see our niece in Tampa. And the airfare was cheaper in our case to go to Tampa vs. Orlando.

[kittysnme]

Following

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[luckybecky]

OK, continuing my tour of the ship.

 

Atrium bar:

 

 

 

Here is the generic bar menu that was found at several bars around the ship:

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

This is the arcade. It is kind of hidden, tucked away beside Cherry On Top.

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Liquid Lounge, the main showroom.

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

The Library Bar. I didn't spend any time here, but I did notice people playing games there. It was also closed a couple of times for private events, and they had a dinner table set up for a private dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The self service wine machine:

 

 

[luckybecky]

Bonsai Sushi -- I don't eat sushi so I can't comment on it, but it looked nice and was often busy.

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Steakhouse. We ate here on our second night. I'll tell you about it later.

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Limelight lounge. This is where the comedy club happens. Arrive early and choose your seats carefully. There a quite a lot of seats to each side where you cannot see the stage or the performer. Instead, you will be watching him/her on a TV screen. There are also some poles which can block your view.

 

 

 

 

This is the bar in the back of the lounge:

 

[luckybecky]

Sunrise dining room

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

 

 

Here's the beauty shop:

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

A few more ship photos from the spa and gym area and then I'll continue with our tale.

 

 

 

 

This is the shower in the ladies' locker room. It is larger than the shower in your room, and you may want to use it if you have a family sharing a room. The locker room is free for anyone to access, even if you are not using any spa services. I believe this is also true of the sauna shown above.

 

 

More of the ladies' locker room:

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

This is the entry to the spa area:

 

 

 

Here's the gym. It was quite large and my sister who is a fitness enthusiast was in heaven.

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Ok well that's a ton of photos for you. Some thoughts on the overall layout of the ship:

 

Aside from the bottlenecks and traffic flow issues mentioned earlier, another problem on Deck 9 was the buffet area and all the indoor seating spaces near the buffet were always very hot. I guess the open doors to the pool just let in too much hot air for the A/C system to keep up with.

 

 

If you continued walking further back to the Havana bar there was plenty of seating and it was much cooler, really quite noticably cooler. We really liked the Havana Bar area and ate several meals at the back near the big windows overlooking the sea. We liked the decor of the Havana bar and the buffet area.

 

 

We did not like the lack of outdoor promenade decks. We have really enjoyed these spaces on other ships, not so much here. You could exit the atrium to a very sparsely furnished promenade on Deck 3. You could not walk the length of the promenade and re-enter the ship elsewhere. So you could not use the deck to get from one area to another. I believe that there was a smoking area out here.

 

All of the Deck 4 outdoor exits that I saw were labeled "crew only." I suppose you could be a rebel and just use the crew only exit if you wanted to go out there, but when we were there for muster it didn't appear to be a very nice area and much of the view was blocked by lifeboats.

 

Decks 4 and 5 seemed to flow much better than lido and we liked the decor. The only problem is if the Limelight lounge is closed for a show or other special event, you cannot pass from one end of deck 4 to the other. You have to go up to 5, or you could ignore the "crew only" signs and try going outside to go around the Limelight.

 

By the way, we have seen some people posting concerns about sewage smells on this ship. We never noticed this at all, anwhere on the ship. Another small detail: I thought the hallways on this ship seemed much wider than other ships we have been on. I know it seems like a nitpicky thing, but it is noticeable when you have scooters parked in the halls, maybe luggage on embarkation on debarkation days, or room service trays and dishes cluttering the floor. I liked the wider hallways.

[luckybecky]

Muster rolled around. We were ushered into a very hot, airless outdoor area on deck 4 behind the life boats. We stood there sweating for half an hour.

 

 

Finally the briefing began. We could not see and mostly could not even hear what was being said. The briefing ended. We were held there for another 10 minutes or so. I'm not sure what we were waiting for but eventually we were dismissed.

 

I've said this before, but most muster drills I have attended have been useless. I'm all for safety and I understand the importance of the muster, but almost all that I have attended have been so crowded that I cannot see or hear any instructions.

 

 

[luckybecky]

We watched some of the sailaway party on the Lido Deck.

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Some of our group had spent some time relaxing on the Serenity Deck while I was going around doing my tour of the ship and taking pictures. Here it is on embarkation day, not crowded. Believe me, it never looked like this again.

 

My daughter liked to go up there to read. She didn't care about having a seat by the pool, but she had a hard time finding a seat at all. Rampant seat saving not only at Serenity but also the main pool and waterworks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Our luggage arrived in time for us to unpack before supper.

 

We went to dinner around 6pm. We had Your Time dining. Our server was Ramon and he did a pretty good job but overall dining room service was slow every time.

 

Ramon remembered us and called my son by name when we went back and happened to be seated in his section again about 5 days later.

 

We love the cheese plate which is always on the dessert menu. We asked for it as an appetizer almost every time we went to the dining room. We would order two for our table of six people to share. We ordered this in addition to other appetizers and they had no problem bringing it. We also enjoyed the bread basket that is served every night and they would bring as much as we wanted.

 

I had the flat iron steak. Our waiter told us that there are two options for steak: medium rare or medium well. I ordered medium rare. I don't know if our waiter misheard me, or the kitchen messed up, but the steak I received was very well done -- like shoe leather and practically inedible. I asked for a replacement which arrived fairly quickly and was properly cooked to medium rare. Much better.

 

Someone else at our table had the Mahi Mahi with a side of creamed spinach. I'm sorry but I forgot to get copies of the menu most nights. They are readily available with a quick Cruise Critic or google search.

 

 

 

Mahi Mahi

 

 

Flat iron steak