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Searching For Sunshine...Feb. 28 thru March 7 Photo Review


pirate4me2
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Hi everyone! We just got home from Port Canaveral after disembarking Sunshine this morning. It was a great cruise overall, and I wanted to share our cruise experience so that other Sunshine cruisers have some information about her before their trip.

I have done one other review on here, and this will be my first photo review, so please bear with me as I get things going. I will try and post one to two days per evening, but please realize that I am returning to "real" life and have a pile of laundry to do and a job to get back to...bah humbug! Why the heck did I get off the ship?

So, without further ado...let's get this review started!

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Am soaking up info about Sunshine. I would love to cruise her next winter. She was our lst CCL cruise back when she was the Destiny. :p I see we have been or are going on many of the same ships, so will look forward to reading about your cruise!

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Alright, so a little background. DH and I sailed on the Liberty in May 2014 and booked a cruise on the Splendor for October 2015. The Splendor cruise was a little pricey (aft balcony on the Bermuda cruise), and then we saw the 14 day Pride cruise for March 2016 which will be our 5 year wedding anniversary, so we booked that. What does all of that have to do with this cruise, you ask? A lot actually. Since both cruises were a little pricey, we had decided not to cruise until our October cruise. Which meant almost a year and a half between cruises...can you say torture?

Around December DH began to get antsy. He started looking at cruises and saying how he wished we could go on one. This continued into the new year, with me telling him that no, we had to save for our Bermuda cruise. Then came January 15.

DH had been badgering me about cruises the night before, and I logged into the Carnival site to make a payment on our Pride cruise. What is this, a 24 hour sale? Hmmm, let's have a look, just for giggles.

That's when I saw it. 7 days on the Sunshine out of Port Canaveral, our favorite Florida port to embark from. $245 per person if I let them pick the room. I had been on and off wanting to sail on the Sunshine. I worried about the crowding issues, but man, she has a lot of cool bells and whistles! Should we do it?

I texted DH.

His text back: "Let's go!"

I asked if he had vacation time. He did. I did the math, and so did I.

I texted our house/pet sitter to see if she was able to watch our critters. She was. Could we afford it? Eh...yeah. I put a 24 hour hold on an inside guarantee to think.

2 hours later, I booked it.

This cruise was going to be a lot different for DH and I. It was our first time on the Sunshine, first time in an interior cabin, first time in a guarantee cabin assignment, first time doing a set dining time, and first time to all of the ports.

DH and I were giddy with excitement. Our countdown for the Bermuda cruise was 283 days. Now our countdown was only 44 days!

The excitement built even more the weeks leading up to the cruise. We have had a bitterly cold winter in NC, but luckily we had no snow or ice. Well, that all was about to change. A week and a half before we were to leave we got an ice storm. I fell and sprained my ankle really bad and ended up at urgent care where they told me it would take 8 weeks to heal. 8 weeks!! But I have a cruise in 10 days! Then 4 days before we set sail we got 3 inches of snow. Now, to some of you 3 inches is a joke, but in NC it can shut a town down. Especially when they are calling for more the next day. We ended up getting 8 inches on top of that 3. I was eyeing my suitcase filled with summertime gear and ready to leave right then!

Ready for more? Pack your bags, we are headed for Sunshine! I am leaving this snow and ice behind!

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Due to work, we were not able to leave a day early like we normally do for our cruises. This was OK, Port Canaveral is only an 8.5 hour drive for us, but it didn't get the vacation off to a relaxing start. We left our house and critters behind at 9 and drove at a nice, easy 60 mph to get to Cape Canaveral at 7.

 

While we waited to board we drove around the town, stopped at Ron Jons, did the Exploration Tower, and ate lunch at Fishlips. Yes, I know we could have had lunch on the ship, but DH and I love Fishlips. Plus we figured that if we waited a bit we could avoid the mad masses at boarding time.

 

At 11:45 we decided to head to the port. We stopped at the porters and dropped our bags off, then parked the truck in the parking garage. It was $120 for a 7 day cruise. We had purchased FTTF, so we were able to bypass the long line and walk right inside. There was nobody in the Priority line, so we literally walked right thru security, right to the check in desk, and right on board. From the time we parked to the time we were on board it was maybe 15 or 20 minutes. FTTF was totally worth it!

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We had an interior cabin on deck 8, number 8281. I never did get any pics of it, sorry. I loved the location, it was 1 deck up to lido. However, it is below the lido eating area, so at night you could hear the crew rolling carts around it and could be rather loud if you are a light sleeper like me. The room did not have a fridge, but that was OK with us. It was a rather roomy area, due to the fact that there was no couch and no nightstands. The cabinets did leave some to be desired though, only 2 were useable as the other was taken up by life jackets, the safe, and extra bedding. Oh, and for those wondering, the safe is the code type, no magnetic strip cards needed.

There were some buckets out and about catching drips now and then. They were usually fixed pretty quick though.

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Now for some random pics around the ship...

Edited by pirate4me2
Tryng to get the pics to work
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Alright, I've got the pics working! Who's ready for pics from around the ship?

Blue Iguana Bar on Lido

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Red Frog Rum Bar on Lido

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Alchemy Bar next to Ocean Plaza. They make great drinks here, ask for Maya!

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Bonsi Sushi...never got to try the food from here.

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Ocean Plaza...trivia is held here, as well as live music in the evenings

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More pics from around the ship...let's check out the Serenity area.

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More Serenity...see how close it is to the huge TV?

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Looking down on Serenity area

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Some cool chairs on the deck near Waterworks

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Waterworks area

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The Red Frog Pub area. We spent a lot of time here on the cruise!

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Laundry room...in case you need to use them, here is what they look like!

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There is also an iron...

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Ok, let's finish up this first day, what do you say? When we boarded it was kind of stormy, so there was quite a lot of movement on the ship that night, and quite a few ill feeling people. DH was one of them. However, he sucked it up and we attended the Welcome Aboard show at 7:30 with our cruise director, Wee Jimmy. Can I just say that he is HILARIOUS? I think he is one of the best CDs we have had. No, I know he is the best CD we have had. He was funny, friendly, and always smiling. The show included a spoon race (a very interesting one) and dancing and bagpipes...it was great.

After the show we had reservations at the steakhouse. I guess I should mention here that there will be no food porn pics on this review. Sorry everyone. I just feel weird taking pictures of my food. Anyway....the steakhouse on the Sunshine is the best Carnival steakhouse we have ate at. The food was amazing (I had the crabcake, spinach and mushroom salad, lobster ravioli, creamed spinach, and chocolate sampler) and the chef came out to speak with us, which was a first for DH and I. We felt it was well worth the extra cost.

After dinner we decided to go check out the Piano Bar. The player's name was Bob, and he was funny and really good. He always had a crowd in there and would take requests and did everything from country to rock to oldies. It was a great hangout.

That concludes day one. We ended up in bed around 10:30 or so to rest up for our first day at sea!

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Excited to read your review. I have a cruise booked on the sunshine for my family in October. It will be our first cruise ever. My kids are really excited. I had almost booked the fascination but my daughter loves ropes coures so we decided on the sunshine instead. I am also from NC and am so over this cold weather.

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I'll be following along. We sailed on the Sunshine back in October and our youngest 2 kids loved the ship but we were really disappointed in service and our CD - it wasn't Wee Jimmy then.

 

We are giving her another try for a family Thanksgiving cruise this year so I'm hoping things will be much better this time!

 

Great start so far - can't wait to read more.

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Am soaking up info about Sunshine. I would love to cruise her next winter. She was our lst CCL cruise back when she was the Destiny. :p I see we have been or are going on many of the same ships, so will look forward to reading about your cruise!

 

I soaked up all the info i could about her as well. I only had a little over a month to plan, but i read every review i could find and looked at deck plans. She's a good ship. And it does look like we have been cruising the same ships lately!

 

 

 

 

 

Excited to read your review. I have a cruise booked on the sunshine for my family in October. It will be our first cruise ever. My kids are really excited. I had almost booked the fascination but my daughter loves ropes coures so we decided on the sunshine instead. I am also from NC and am so over this cold weather.

 

 

Your daughter will love all the kids options on the Sunshine! She has the ropes course, the racer slides (they are SO FUN!) Twister slide, mini golf...she won't be bored! Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

 

 

I'll be following along. We sailed on the Sunshine back in October and our youngest 2 kids loved the ship but we were really disappointed in service and our CD - it wasn't Wee Jimmy then.

 

We are giving her another try for a family Thanksgiving cruise this year so I'm hoping things will be much better this time!

 

Great start so far - can't wait to read more.

 

 

 

 

Sorry your first cruise on her wasn't good. I hope you get Wee Jimmy as your CD, he really was a hoot and was so friendly. I hope your next cruise on her is better!

 

 

Great start! Cannot wait for more.:D:D

 

 

 

 

More is on the way today. I just need to upload my photos. :)

 

 

Enjoying your review! Looking forward to more. Great photos too:)

 

 

Thank you! It was my first time using a new camera, so I was worried the photos wouldn't turn out.

 

 

 

 

Ahh another Sunshine photo review! Thanks for doing this, we are boarding Sunshine very soon. Can't wait! :D

 

 

Have a great cruise!

 

 

 

 

thanks for a great start to a review! We are on the Sunshine in a few weeks- cant wait!

 

 

I hope you have a great time on her!

 

 

 

 

Just booked the Sunshine for September. Looking forward to the review!

 

Thanks, I hope you have a good cruise!

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Thanks for sharing your experience on Sunshine, will be reading along. We have had lunch at Fishlips at Port Canaveral & the food is excellent so we see why you wanted to eat there. We are also following every review regarding the Sunshine until we cruise on her next February. Looking forward to more of your review :) !

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Ahh another Sunshine photo review! Thanks for doing this, we are boarding Sunshine very soon. Can't wait! :D

You'll be sailing on my birthday! :D OP, great pictures! Doesn't look ANYTHING like the Destiny I used to know lol.

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Thanks for sharing your experience on Sunshine, will be reading along. We have had lunch at Fishlips at Port Canaveral & the food is excellent so we see why you wanted to eat there. We are also following every review regarding the Sunshine until we cruise on her next February. Looking forward to more of your review :) !

 

More will come tonight. Trying to upload photos now so I can post another segment.

 

 

 

 

 

You'll be sailing on my birthday! :D OP, great pictures! Doesn't look ANYTHING like the Destiny I used to know lol.

 

There are a few traces of the old Destiny still onboard. The stairwells have the metallic purple color, elevators still have whale tale etches on them, and right at one of the entrances to the beach pool area there is actually a bunch of "before" and "after" photos of her makeover. It was kinda cool!

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[quote

There are a few traces of the old Destiny still onboard. The stairwells have the metallic purple color, elevators still have whale tale etches on them, and right at one of the entrances to the beach pool area there is actually a bunch of "before" and "after" photos of her makeover. It was kinda cool!

Oh, how cool. I'd love to see that. One more reason to book a cruise on her! ;);)

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