Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Sunshine 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise 9/8/13

[Jenna1983]

You got on the day I got off. I'm still Europe sick and can't wait to go back. I think this trip has ruined cruising for me because this trip was amazing. The ship was probably the most "fun" out of all of my 10. lol.

[stlrboo]

Great review Dana. I can't wait for more. I am reliving the cruise through your post. I like the way you write and am anxiously waiting for more :). It was fun touring with you and your mom!

I agree... :p Wish I had the energy and pics to do the same! :rolleyes:

Thanks for doing this 'fun' review... :D

[deladane]

Great review Dana. I can't wait for more. I am reliving the cruise through your post. I like the way you write and am anxiously waiting for more :). It was fun touring with you and your mom!

 

Thanks Kathy! I actually just spotted you in the background of one of my photos in Athens ;) It was great meeting and touring with you and Joel!

 

 

I agree... :p Wish I had the energy and pics to do the same! :rolleyes:

Thanks for doing this 'fun' review... :D

 

Thanks Dave! I might not have as much energy as I would like, considering the 10 hours of sleep I got each night this week still wasn't enough to recover from my cold, but writing the review is a fun distraction from the real world :)

[deladane]

We were beyond starving by this point since it was nearly 2pm and we barely ate anything all day, so we bought prosciutto and cheese sandwiches from the store in the train station, and ate as we walked to the vaporetto stop. I pre-purchased 48-hour unlimited ride vaporetto tickets online for 30 Euro each, so I used the vending machine to type in my confirmation number and retrieve the actual tickets. We had to validate the cards each time we used the vaporetto by scanning them at the little machines outside each vaporetto stop. I am pretty sure the pass paid for itself in just our first afternoon as we rode it several times that day, and each ride is 7 Euro if you pay for the rides individually.

 

The vaporetto stops can be somewhat confusing. There are multiple floating docks at the stop location, and two or three vaporetto routes stop at each dock so you need to look for the numbers on top of the waiting area shelter to see which routes stop there. We intended to take the route that goes directly to Murano express with very few stops, but somehow ended up on the local route instead. No worries though- it got us to Murano eventually! Unfortunately, I never took a good photo of the vaporetto stops, but here is a photo I took while standing on the dock...

 

[deladane]

We got off the vaporetto at the Museo stop, and wondered along the canals back to the Faro stop. There are lots of cute little shops along the canals, and it was a lot of fun to look in all the window displays at the glass figurines.

 

 

 

 

One of the souvenirs I most wanted was some glass candy from Murano, so I bought a glass bowl and some glass candy to put in it. I collect postcards from everywhere I go, so I bought a postcard here too. We found our way back to the Faro vaporetto stop and waited for the #12 route to Burano. You can easily find the Faro stop because this tall tower is visible all over Murano:

 

 

This is the view looking back towards Murano as we floated away...

 

 

It took surprisingly long to get to Burano, maybe 45 minutes or so. Notice how the clock tower in the distance is leaning?

 

[rhinomike]

We're you or your mother exhausted after the cruise? We are planning a Europe trip. We are thinking 1 week sightseeing before the cruise. Then the 12 day cruise. Then another week sightseeing. 4 weeks total. Me, my wife and 4 boys. Ages 14 to 18. Is that too much? I am worried we ill be exhausted.

[Captain Carnival]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy reading my review as much as I loved yours!! :D It must be fun for you to relive your cruise too hehe

 

You have no idea.....we really had a blast and it is really fun to tag along on a "virtual cruise" with you guys!

[deladane]

We're you or your mother exhausted after the cruise? We are planning a Europe trip. We are thinking 1 week sightseeing before the cruise. Then the 12 day cruise. Then another week sightseeing. 4 weeks total. Me, my wife and 4 boys. Ages 14 to 18. Is that too much? I am worried we ill be exhausted.

 

There is no doubt that this was an exhausting trip! A bit part of that is because I got a cold on the first Friday, and I am still trying to get rid of it today, two weeks later :( I have been sleeping 10 hours every night since we returned on Monday, and I could probably use more sleep but I'm forcing myself to wake up haha

 

That said, it was a fantastic trip and we really tried to jam as much touring in as we could in a short time. There are some cruise itineraries which provide more sea days than ours, and if you have a full week pre- and post-cruise, you can schedule more downtime into your days, so you don't necessarily have to end up as tired and sick as we did! Whatever you decide, a month in Europe sounds amazing!! Please let me know if you have any other questions :)

[rhinomike]

There is no doubt that this was an exhausting trip! A bit part of that is because I got a cold on the first Friday, and I am still trying to get rid of it today, two weeks later :( I have been sleeping 10 hours every night since we returned on Monday, and I could probably use more sleep but I'm forcing myself to wake up haha

 

That said, it was a fantastic trip and we really tried to jam as much touring in as we could in a short time. There are some cruise itineraries which provide more sea days than ours, and if you have a full week pre- and post-cruise, you can schedule more downtime into your days, so you don't necessarily have to end up as tired and sick as we did! Whatever you decide, a month in Europe sounds amazing!! Please let me know if you have any other questions :)

 

 

Sorry you got sick. Thank you for the reply. I think we will be ok. It's not the kids I am worried about. It's me and my wife. Lol.

[deladane]

We got off the vaporetto at the Mazzorbo stop. The man operating the vaporetto said we should go towards the left to walk to the bridge to Burano. Along the way, we passed a small park small garden park which had a public bathroom. We continued along the path along the water until we saw the bridge, and we ended up near the Burano vaporetto stop. We crossed the bridge into Burano and walked through the narrow streets behind the houses until we found the water canal leading to the clock tower and the shops in town. Burano was very quaint, and I thought it was worth the trip. All the houses are painted in different bright colors and they reflected beautifully off the water.

 

 

 

 

We ate dinner at one of the restaurants in the main square near the clock tower. I had my first of many pizzas in Italy- this time with mushrooms, artichokes, and prosciutto on top! Mom had the fried calamari, and both dishes were great.

 

 

 

After dinner, we walked back to the Burano vaporetto stop and barely missed the boat. We had to wait 30 minutes for the next boat to arrive, and it took us 2.5 hours to get from Burano all the way back to our hotel in Mestre. At least we had a beautiful view of the sunset during our ride!

 

 

It was a long day and we were exhausted by the time we got back. We went to sleep with excited anticipation for boarding the Carnival Sunshine the following morning!

[rhinomike]

Love your review. I find myself constantly checking or updates. Lol. Thank you.

[deladane]

Love your review. I find myself constantly checking or updates. Lol. Thank you.

 

Aww thanks! :) I'm glad you are enjoying it! I have been very busy this week, but I am trying to work on the review as much as I can, and hope to have the next installment posted soon :)

[rhinomike]

Aww thanks! :) I'm glad you are enjoying it! I have been very busy this week, but I am trying to work on the review as much as I can, and hope to have the next installment posted soon :)

 

Your review inspired me. I just booked airline tickets for me my wife and 4 boys. We will spend a month in Europe. We also booked a 2 week cruise on the NCL Spirit. Very similar ports to your cruise. Carnival has no ships there in the summer.

[gck1249]

Thank you so much for posting such a positive fun review, really enjoying it. We will be on the Sunshine October 20th, same itin, starting in Venice so excited to read your take on some of the ports we will be going to, and seeing your beautiful pictures.

 

If you don't mind I have a couple of questions regarding the cabin. You said you had to request the fridge, is it not standard in any of the Inside Cabins? Also did it have the interactive TV where you can see menus and your sign and sail bill? Thanks

[deladane]

Your review inspired me. I just booked airline tickets for me my wife and 4 boys. We will spend a month in Europe. We also booked a 2 week cruise on the NCL Spirit. Very similar ports to your cruise. Carnival has no ships there in the summer.

 

Oh wow! Congrats on booking your vacation! That will be an amazing experience for you and your family! I hope you come back and write a review to share with all of us next year :)

 

 

Thank you so much for posting such a positive fun review, really enjoying it. We will be on the Sunshine October 20th, same itin, starting in Venice so excited to read your take on some of the ports we will be going to, and seeing your beautiful pictures.

 

If you don't mind I have a couple of questions regarding the cabin. You said you had to request the fridge, is it not standard in any of the Inside Cabins? Also did it have the interactive TV where you can see menus and your sign and sail bill? Thanks

 

I'm glad you are enjoying my review :) You must be so excited to be just a few weeks away from your cruise!

 

To answer your questions- our cabin was on deck 7, and as I understood it, none of the original cabins on the ship have fridges except the suites. When they added the new spa cabins and the extra cabins on decks 3 and 5, I believe they put fridges in those cabins (someone correct me if I'm wrong!?) But no, our cabin would not have had a fridge had we not requested it, and I believe the ship only has a small number of fridges available for request.

 

The tv was new and a nice flat screen, but unfortunately it was not interactive and we could not view our bills on it. The ship has one or two of those kiosk machines where you can swipe your S&S card and can view and print your bill or add money to your account, but it was extremely slow!

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions :)

[deladane]

Sunday, September 8th - Embarkation Day!!!

 

After months of planning, embarkation day finally arrived!!! We started the day with a great breakfast at the hotel. They set up a buffet with meats, cheeses, eggs (which were too runny), thick cut bacon, sausage, and lots of breads.

 

 

 

The hotel concierge said that there was a supermarket just up the street which opened at 8:30am, so we walked the two blocks there in search of soda and wine to bring on the ship. Sadly, when we arrived, they were closed! Apparently they sometimes decide to stay closed on Sundays, and this was one of those days.

 

 

We continued further up the street to get euros from the ATM, then returned to the hotel to pack up our bags and check out. We pre-booked a car from Venice Transfers to pick us up at 10am. Sun Transfers only provides transfers to and from the airport, so we couldn't use them to get to the cruise port, but that turned out to be a good thing because I was much more impressed with Venice Transfers. Our driver arrived 15 minutes early and came into the hotel lobby to find us. He dropped us off right in front of the cruise port by 10:15am. We handed our big suitcases to the porters, and proceeded up the escalators into the cruise terminal.

 

There were only a handful of people there this early, and we were given a card for zone 4. Check in started a few minutes later, and our zone was called to check in at 10:45am. Next, we put our bags through the x-ray machines and walked up the ramps onto the ship. They took our photos for the Sign and Sail cards, and we were in the deck 3 lobby by 11am! The whole process was totally painless and moved very quickly. Since we were right there and there was no line, we stopped at Guest Services to request a mini-fridge for the cabin and to ask a few other questions. Then we went up to our cabin, but it was not ready yet. We found our steward Yalena and she said it would be okay if we left our carry on bags in the closets and put a few things in the safe until she was finished cleaning the room. We went up to Lido for lunch and ate our only Guy's burgers for the entire cruise. One of the few downsides to such a port-intensive itinerary was that we only had 2 chances to eat lunch on the ship, so I knew I wanted to try a Guy's burger this day. It was very good and really lived up to the hype.

 

 

We left the ship around 1pm and walked to the People Mover in 10 minutes. A word of caution- do not try to cut through this parking lot:

 

 

There is a fence around the parking lot which blocks you from getting to the People Mover entrance. You can see the raised track and station behind the parking lot in that photo. For those of you who don't know, there is a water canal separating the cruise port from the main part of Venice, so you need to ride the People Mover to get into Venice (or you can walk a very round about path which takes a really long time... no thanks!!). It costs 1 Euro per ride, and runs very frequently. There are only 3 stops, with Piazza Roma on one end, the cruise port in the middle, and Tronchetto on the other end, and the ride is literally 2 minutes long. Since it was still very early, there weren't many people on the People Mover with us...

 

[deladane]

 

We exited the People Mover at Piazza Roma and walked across the street to the vaporetto stop. Vaporetto routes #1 and #2 both run the length of the Grand Canal... #1 makes all local stops and takes a long time, but #2 makes limited stops at the major touristy areas. We took route #2 to the Rialto Bridge stop. While we were onboard, a lady came around to make sure we validated our tickets, so make sure you remember to do that or they might charge a fine.

 

 

It was very crowded near the Rialto Bridge, so we took a few photos and continued on our way.

 

 

 

With all of my research, I kept reading that one of the best things to do in Venice is to get lost in the back streets and canals. I knew we wanted to walk from the Rialto Bridge to St. Mark's Square, but was not exactly sure how to get there aside from a vague idea of the direction we needed to go. We found a back road with tons of small shops and restaurants, and kept following the signs pointing the way "Per Marco"

 

 

[pb19]

Dana, I'm so excited to be able to relive our wonderful cruise through your review and photos. I thought about doing something similar but can't seem to get my thoughts together. I've found my note taking was NOT as good as I had planned for it to be. I'm going to be looking at the captions on YOUR photos to help me remember what some of my photos where taken of...

I subscribed to this thread and I'll be waiting for each update!

Thanks for taking the time to chronicle your trip in this way. I'm looking forward to reading more....

Denise

[pb19]

If you don't mind I have a couple of questions regarding the cabin. You said you had to request the fridge, is it not standard in any of the Inside Cabins? Also did it have the interactive TV where you can see menus and your sign and sail bill? Thanks

 

We were in a Spa Balcony Cabin on the 11th floor. There was a fridge/mini-bar in our room. It was crammed full of drinks for purchase so it didn't do us much good. I guess we could have asked them to remove the items. I'm sure they would probably do that but I didn't really want to bother them. We jammed as much of their stuff as we could onto the top shelves so we could use the bottom for the couple of things we wanted to keep in there. It worked out okay but I think if I had to do it over again I would just ask them to please empty it out for me. :-)

[dane225]

Great review and pics!! Can't wait to read more!

[deladane]

Dana, I'm so excited to be able to relive our wonderful cruise through your review and photos. I thought about doing something similar but can't seem to get my thoughts together. I've found my note taking was NOT as good as I had planned for it to be. I'm going to be looking at the captions on YOUR photos to help me remember what some of my photos where taken of...

I subscribed to this thread and I'll be waiting for each update!

Thanks for taking the time to chronicle your trip in this way. I'm looking forward to reading more....

Denise

 

Thanks Denise! Every night in our cabin, my mom needed time to check in with her business so I used that time to write in my journal. I didn't want to forget anything with such a jam-packed itinerary, so I wrote down tons of details and it's definitely making it easier to write my review now :) Glad you're enjoying it!

 

 

Great review and pics!! Can't wait to read more!

 

Thanks! The next installment will be posted in a few minutes :) And I like you're screenname hehe Dane was my nickname in high school because my friends were too lazy to pronounce the last "a" in Dana ;)

Edited September 28, 2013 by deladane

[deladane]

We kept walking until we saw this...

 

 

We found St. Mark's Square!!

 

 

We walked around the square for a few minutes, and stared in amazement as we watched a man lay face first on the ground in a sea of pigeons! Some things, I will never understand!!

 

 

We had an hour and a half until our scheduled time to enter the Basilica, so we decided to have a drink at Harry's Bar. Harry's Bar is located on the water, just a block or two off from St. Mark's Square. To get there, we walked along a street with stores for every high end fancy designer we could think of! We did a little window shopping as we walked down the street, and eventually found this:

 

 

It is a tiny bar, but there were a few open tables, so we sat down and ordered prosecco and bellinis.

 

 

[deladane]

Once we finished our drinks, we walked back along the water until we reached the Bridge of Sighs. This is the bridge where you stand to have a good view of the Bridge of Sighs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving for Venice, we booked a skip the line ticket to St. Mark's Basilica for an entrance time between 4:05 and 4:15pm. It was a good thing we did this because the line to enter was HUGE! The skip the line tickets cost 1.50 Euro (it is free to enter if you wait in the long line without tickets), but it was definitely worth the small fee to not waste our time standing in line.

 

[deladane]

Mom was carrying a small backpack, and they forced her to check it at their bag check location around the corner from the Basilica. We were allowed to bring in our purses and cameras (no flash allowed). They also enforced the dress code to keep our shoulders and knees covered. I knew it would be hot for most of our port cities, so I did not want to have to wear capris or pants all day just to meet the dress code at the handful of churches we wanted to visit. To solve this problem, I bought a lightweight tea-length black skirt and folded it up into a small pouch which I kept in my purse for the entire trip. Whenever we got to a church which required my knees to be covered, I slipped the skirt on over my shorts and instantly met the dress code (and I folded the skirt back into its pouch as soon as we left the churches so I wouldn't get too overheated hehe)

 

Rick Steves was a huge help in planning this vacation. I bought the Mediterranean Cruise Ports book and cut it apart to make mini booklets to carry in each port city. We also both downloaded his iPhone app because he has a bunch of audio walking tours which I find to be more convenient than reading the information in his tour books. There was an audio guide for St. Mark's Basilica, so we listened to Rick as we walked through the church. We actually found the guide to provide too much information, so we stopped listening halfway though. It was extremely hot inside the church, and we were both very sweaty, so I think that also contributed to our decreased interest. We opted not to pay the extra fee to see the treasury room, but if I went again, I would probably see that room as we saw photos that our friends took and it looks beautiful in there! Here are a few pictures from St. Mark's Square/Basilica:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and pictures! Can't wait for more.