Carnival Sunshine New England/Canada 09/2017

Hello Cruise Community!

I thought I would post my thoughts on the Carnival Sunshine New England/Canada cruise since there aren't too many reviews regarding this adventure.

Cruise Tips:

1. from JFK to Manhattan consider this fast and easy route: Airtrain from the airport terminal to Jamaica station and then transferring from Jamaica station to Penn stations via LIRR. cost can vary depending on the time you ride. $12.50 when I took the trains on Friday into the city

2. meclizine 25mg once in the morning and once at bedtime plus sea bands kept tropical storm Jose away. I get motion sickness fairly easily - small planes, movies like Hurt Locker with handy cams, car rides in the passenger seat are a quick route to barfville for me. I didn't feel ill at all, not even during the 10 ft swells from the storm on deck 11.

3. formal nights - sunday (1st fun day at sea) & thursday (Halifax)

4. the Statue of Liberty is on the right side of the ship (if you are facing the front of the ship) when departing the Manhattan Port

5. Meds that might come in handy: benadryl, meclizine, ibuprofen or tylenol, prilosec

6. honey is available only at breakfast at the pancake station

7. room 11007 - has a working fridge. spa room included use of the sauna and two workout classes. we took the yoga class and pilates class with Jane, who was great.

8. the flusher is behind the toilet lid.

9. try to avoid the casino especially on fun day at sea. it's a money sucker.

10. chicken sausage at the blue iguana for breakfast is tasty and different than the chicken sausage at the lido buffet

11. tostada bowls available at blue iguana in addition to burritos

12. don't forget to grab the popcorn on movie night

my favorite show on the cruise: lip sync battle

best thing I brought on the cruise: silk sleep liner

worth thing I brought on the cruise: water bottle

favorite dessert: s'mores parfait

favorite meal: prime rib and the mushroom pasta

(note: we did not book any excursions)

Port tips - BOSTON

- you can pre-order charlie cards and activate it when you get to a station if you want to use public transportation. my family took uber to get to the city center and then used the train to hustle around. uber $16 from black falcon terminal to boston public library

- our Itinerary included:

1. boston public library - bathroom pit stop

2. boston marathon finish line

3. copley square

(took copley square north station to haymarket station)

4. boston public marketplace (ate apple cider mini donuts at Red Apple Farm & lobster bisque and clam chowder at Red's Best)

5. Modern pastry (ate cannolis and a boston cream cupcake)

6. Quincy Market

7. Sam Lagrassa's for pastrami sandwiches

7. Boston Common

8. Cheers

Port tips - PORTLAND

- security at the port when returning to the ship was long

- our itinerary (was pretty much a food tour) included:

1. the standard baking company: morning bun

2. two fat cats bakery - they only had sliced apple pie

3. ten ten pie: hazelnut nutella twice baked chocolate croissant (best thing I ate in Portland) and almond florentine

4. holy donuts - dark chocolate sea salt donut

5. blue rooster - lobster roll (not on the menu)

6. eventtide - lobster roll, nori chips, pastrami bun

- favorite store: Folly 101

- bring a collapsible bag to haul your goodies

- public restrooms were hard to find - try the co-op marketplace if you are near by

- best picture of the family with the cruise ship in the background is at this Port

Port tips - St. John

itinerary:

1. Kings Square

2. City Marketplace

3. New Brunswick Museum

4. Reversing falls walk

Port tips - Halifax

- entry into the Citadel is free for 2017 in celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary

- harbor walk is a good stroll

Hope this helps someone. happy cruising.

Very practical and helpful feedback! Thanks for sharing.

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What sailing were you on?

What sailing were you on?

9/16-9/23 - just got off the ship on Saturday

How bad were the seas on Friday?

How bad were the seas on Friday?

The captain made announcements beforehand when expecting rough waters. I recall him making two announcements, including Friday. On Friday, we were 255 miles away from tropical storm Jose, but the waters were rough including 10 ft swells and small white capped waves. The boat swayed heavily and even some of the Carnival Crew workers mentioned how the shipped had never rocked as much. A couple of my family members came down ill with motion sickness, but they were not medicated. Fortunately, I was fine and I do suffer from motion sickness. Transderm patch is too strong for me, but the meclizine and sea band worked perfectly.

We decided to disembark in Halifax and fly home. Both my mom and my aunt were sea sick on Sunday, and we didn’t want to risk it happening again on Friday. I luckily work for Southwest Airlines and we were able to fly home on United at a discount.

oh you were on the same trip! yeah, i would say Friday was worst than the previous day that was rocky. I think you guys made a good decision. It would have been a rough day for your mom and aunt had you guys stayed on. lucky for them, you were able to get a united discount. hopefully, your family still enjoyed their vacation.

We decided to disembark in Halifax and fly home. Both my mom and my aunt were sea sick on Sunday, and we didn’t want to risk it happening again on Friday. I luckily work for Southwest Airlines and we were able to fly home on United at a discount.

I work for Southwest too! What do you do? I work at HDQ in SWA University.

Do you think this would be a good itinerary for someone who can't walk a lot (my mom)?

Watermelon is available at blue iguana but not Lido buffet. Custom ordered pasta bar is free at lunch time and very good. Lido is always packed with people but plenty of seats at back on Deck 9. HOHO in Boston is always full and hard to get back on once you get off midway through the trolley route.

I work for Southwest too! What do you do? I work at HDQ in SWA University.

 

Do you think this would be a good itinerary for someone who can't walk a lot (my mom)?

hi megbowlstrike - i know you asked you asked courtneymd9 this question, but i thought i would let you know how my dad did. he's 78 and has a bad hip but loves to cruise, hence the family trip. he can walk on flat land for about 2 miles, no uphills. in boston, he was able to do the majority of our agenda. we utilized public transportation and when he was tired we ordered an uber ride back to the boat for him. in portland, he headed back to the ship after we started a small hill climb to the portland observatory. he walked well in st. john but did not walk the reverse rapids trail. he only walked the harborwalk in halifax. i think if your main goal is to see the ports and everything there is, then it's a lot of walking. but if you just want to spend time as a family and don't mind missing out on some sights at the ports, then this itinerary is great. there's enough to do in every port.

Watermelon is available at blue iguana but not Lido buffet. Custom ordered pasta bar is free at lunch time and very good. Lido is always packed with people but plenty of seats at back on Deck 9. HOHO in Boston is always full and hard to get back on once you get off midway through the trolley route.

nice tip about the watermelon. i would have liked to known that.

jiji is also available at lunch time as well.

and to note: cucina del capitano (pasta bar) is the only place to order caesar salad during lunch. else you have to wait for the dinner dining service.

My husband and I were also on this sailing and had the very best time.

Luckily, we do not get sea sick and I generally enjoy a good sway, especially at night. I sleep like a baby in a hammock. We spoke with many of the crew, but we didn't come across any that stated it was terrible. We had a lot of fog, but I actually enjoyed that as well.

I'm sorry that some had to cut their vacation short as it was a wonderful trip. I absolutely loved the ship and the crew, plus the food was a lot better than some of our recent Carnival cruises.

I hope those that chose to leave the ship early aren't turned off to cruising, but anything can happen during hurricane season. Overall, we simply had the very best time and I hope to be able to do the Sunshine again.

I work for Southwest too! What do you do? I work at HDQ in SWA University.

 

Do you think this would be a good itinerary for someone who can't walk a lot (my mom)?

Hello!!!!!!!! I am a DEN based flight attendant and my Aunt is a CSA in LAS. What part of SWA Univ???

This is a great itinerary, and there are bus tours in every port so you don't have to walk it :)

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for posting this! [emoji2]

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Just learned how to add pictures, so here’s some tasty pics of what we ate ....

Lobster roll at blue rooster

Chicken sausage at blue iguana for breakfast

Pasta from the pasta bar at lunch

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