Photo Review of my 4/11/15 Eastern Caribbean Cruise Carnival Sunshine

Hello all! Thank you for taking time to read my review of my recent cruise I have just returned from. This was a 7 day Western Caribbean Cruise that departed from Port Canaveral, Florida on April 11th, 2015 aboard the Carnival Sunshine. I was on this trip traveling with a good friend and their family. We were booked into an Ocean Suite Stateroom, on of the newer ones on the ship located at the aft, stateroom #5341. I had read some good reviews about this room so I was very excited!

This cruise was making the following stops:

Day 1: Departing Port Canaveral at 4pm

Day 2: At Sea

Day 3: Cozumel

Day 4: Roatan

Day 5: Belize

Day 6: Costa Maya

Day 7: At Seat

Day 8: Return to Port Canaveral at 8am

I will add photos an information to the thread as I have it, I've been sorting through my many photos and making some edits, but here we go to start!

We were set to fly out of Boston Logan Airport at 7:50am on Friday the 10th the day before the cruise, but unfortunately there was an apparent accident where a cleaning vehicle struck our plane, so we were faced with a huge delay. We had a 5.5 hour wait in beautiful Logan International Airport:

Southwest flew in a new plane for us, but we didn't depart until around 1:45pm which meant our day in Florida turned into a night in Florida. Many passengers (myself included) were not happy! Southwest did give each passenger a $200 "LUV Voucher" towards future air travel, and also free alcoholic drinks on the flight.

Finally we were in the air:

After what seemed like a super long 3 hours flight to Orlando (probably thanks to no wifi on the plane!), we landed in Orlando and quickly retrieved our bags and headed to Hertz to get our rental. We were booked in the Four Points by Sheraton Cocoa Beach for the night. Before stepping up to the Hertz counter we were very tempted by the 911:

After some quick paperwork and a thorough walk-around inspection, we were loading up our bags and off in our rental, a white 2014 Mercedes C63 AMG:

Before headed to our hotel in Cocoa Beach, we met up with a friend and made a quick run to Universal Orlando Shops to get a quick bite to eat for dinner. Lots of people!

After a quick dinner we made the 45 minute drive out to Cocoa Beach and checked into our hotel. The hotel was nice, clean and very nice staff, was perfect stay for a quick night. There was also a Starbucks right inside the hotel which is a big plus for me.

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and set off back to the airport to return our rental car. We had already arranged for a towncar to pick us up at the airport to bring us to the cruise terminal. Lots of back and fourth, yes, but for me it was worth it! I was in love with the rental:

Returning the car at Orlando Airport was painless, they scan your car and print your receipt as soon as you pull up, was virtually no wait! Until next time, C63!

We transferred all of our baggage to the towncar and before we knew it we were at our ship, very exciting!

The entire check in process took us under 12 minutes I'd say, along with the Ocean Suite we received VIP Boarding access which meant no line, no waiting. Very convenient I must say! I believe the suite guests get the same priority as those with Fast To The Fun.

More to come!

I love photo heavy reviews! Keep em coming!

Right after boarding the Sunshine we were on a mission for lunch! Of course the Lido Deck (Burger Joint included) was super busy, we decided to try out the Italian Restaurant in the back of the ship (Lido Deck) which is free at lunchtime and has a pasta bar. You get a little card to check off what you would like, then they give you a buzzer to let you know when it's ready. Seating is open.

I'm pretty basic, so I went with:

After lunch we went off to see if our room was ready for us, we were very excited to check out the room. As I mentioned before, we were in an Ocean Suite #5341 which is at the back of the ship and is on the corner, but does not have a wrap around balcony, those rooms start on deck 6. Here's some photos of the room. We were very pleased, it was a large 2 room suite which I found to be larger than the "regular" ocean suite that I stayed in last year on the Splendor.

This room had tons of storage - two huge closets in the bedroom. In the living room there is a huge L Shaped couch that folds into a large bed as well. There are 2 TV's in this suite, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. There is a refrigerator located under the vanity in the living room. There are also cabinets for storage under the TV in the living room and bedroom.

The bathroom was very nice, though I was sad it did not have a double vanity sink like the last Ocean Suite I stayed in on the Carnival Splendor. I was worried that this room would not have enough natural lighting, but boy was I wrong. There is a large sliding glass door in the bedroom which leads to the balcony, and a fairly good sized window in the livingroom.

Balcony photos to come (hmm, I'm limited to only 6 photos be post!).

Subscribing! Beautiful photos!

Subscribing! Beautiful photos!

Thank you!

The balcony in our stateroom was definitely larger than a standard balcony, but we wished it wrapped around more since it was on the corner. IT was cut out on the side so you could almost look around though

The TVs in our rooms showed our destinations to come:

Great pics so far!

We board in 3 weeks! Can't wait.

2 questions, What hotel i Cocoa Beach did you stay at precruise?

What town car service were you going to use from MCO to Hotel?

Keep those pics coming!

Great pics so far!

 

We board in 3 weeks! Can't wait.

2 questions, What hotel i Cocoa Beach did you stay at precruise?

What town car service were you going to use from MCO to Hotel?

 

Keep those pics coming!

Thank you! Many more photos to come, I think total I snapped over 3,000 of them! :D

There are many hotels in Cocoa Beach. I stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton pre-cruise, and after the cruise we stayed 1 night at the Best Western. I liked the Four Points Sheraton hotel better, I feel like the room was nicer, but at the Best Western if you book a room in their "Ocean Tower" you'll get a a nice ocean front view of the beach and Pier which we really liked. If I were to return I think I'd stay at the Best Western again...here was our view:

For transportation from MCO to the cruise terminal we used:

http://www.port-canaveral-transportation.net/

The total was around $130 which is the same we would have paid for a regular taxi service.

great pics!

can't wait to see more!

Sweet! Another Sunshine review. We board this Saturday and can't wait! :D

We're also boarding on Saturday. Any chance you scanned the FunTimes?

Who was the Cruise director on your trip?

We board Saturday too!! Cant wait to read your review!

We're also boarding on Saturday. Any chance you scanned the FunTimes?

Who was the Cruise director on your trip?

I haven't scanned any, but I did take copies from each day home, so I have them saved! The cruise director was a younger female, I cannot remember her name I'd have to check. She was okay, not really spectacular.

Some more photos, leaving Port Canaveral. There was one Disney ship in port that left right behind us. We also passed another cruise ship, I think it is a German Cruise ship. I love these birds that are flying around port...does anyone know what kind of bird it is?

The Sheriff followed us out and it looked like they stopped a few small boats that were getting too close to our ship...some people!

See you later Port Canaveral! Sailing away.. :D

Here's another shot of the bedroom in our Ocean Suite...before all of our baggage arrived and the unpacking began:

Great pics! Sharing these with my in-laws (who we are taking on their first ever cruise on Sunshine).

All I can say is GIGGITY GIGGITY ALLLL-RIGHT!!!!! :D:p:)

Loving your review!

Thanks for taking the time to post.:)

Great pics! Sharing these with my in-laws (who we are taking on their first ever cruise on Sunshine).

 

All I can say is GIGGITY GIGGITY ALLLL-RIGHT!!!!! :D:p:)

Thank you! I'm going to post some ship pictures shortly, then I'll get into the islands we stopped at.

Here's some photos of the ship.

More ship pictures...

This first pictures shows the Havana Bar on the left, which is located on the Lido Deck 9 at the back of the ship. Awesome place to hangout. On the right is the Italian Restaurant which is $15 per person at dinner and free pasta bar at lunch time.

WiFi your way! The new plan gets you unlimited wifi for only $99 for the entire cruise! I was very pleased with this. I'm used to buying the blocks of 480 minutes for $159, I'd usually have to get a few of those throughout the week, and then you constantly have to log in and out. With the new internet plan, which is only available on a few ships, gets you unlimited for just $99 and you can stay logged in! Note, it's per device though - so if you're logged in on your cell phone and want to use your laptop, you have to log out of the cell phone and log in on the laptop and vice versa.

Below is the Ocean Plaza which is located towards the aft of the ship on Deck 5. They had lots of live music here most nights, cool place to hang out!

We had beautiful weather all week, saw no rain during the day and I think it only rained once or twice at night which wasn't a bother at all. Lots of sun, lots of warm weather! Here's our first day at sea, many cruises out on the Lido and by the Serenity pool!

Here's a shot while sitting at a table by the Havana Bar on the Aft of Deck 9, beautiful windows giving you an awesome view of what's behind the ship:

Here's a shot of the Lido Deck Peach Pool, and you can also see the Serenity area above:

Ahh, Serenity. The pool was always very crowded during the day, not so much at night

Time for some inside shots of the ship...let's visit the Casino!

Here's the coffee shop, I made good friends with both of the barista. They were so kind and so much fun! They remembered me by name and had my drink ready to go for me in the morning (a latte) and espresso later at night! I miss them the most!

The beautiful atrium:

The shops..

Nice review and love the pics. Thanks for posting!

Loving your review so far!! We don't sail on her for awhile but still love reading and looking at all the pictures!! Great job!

And holy rental car and stateroom!!! Nice!!!! It must have been nice to finally get into some sunshine after the horrible winter we had here in MA!!!!

Great pics... The ship looks really beautiful can't wait for my upcoming cruise