Sunshine Cruise Review 2/9/14-2/16/14 with pictures! (Western Caribbean)

[Ciardasully]

Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddd Photobucket just went down for some "Maintainence." I will try again later. :(

Edited February 20, 2014 by Ciardasully

[ruskatab]

Thank you for reading!

 

That wrap looked nice. I hope you have a good time!

 

Thank you!!!

[ruskatab]

Ruskatab,

 

I would like for you to tell me the answer to a few of questions when you return. We have read that the wrap and the L-room actually have to go through a shared door before entering their cabin door. I would like to know if that is true. Also, I was wondering if there is any overhang for shade. Could you check and see if the partition can open to the aft extended balconies? Take care of our cabin. We are really excited about our May cruise in that room.

 

Sailingwithfriends I have had the aft wrap on 8 other Carnival cruises! I actually had the aft wrap on deck 7 when Sunshine was Destiny. There was a door in the hall to the room but I will let you know if they changed it when they did the makeover. There is somewhat of a over hang on the balcony, more so on the side. The partition can be opened by the room stewart. We had c3 abins in a row on the aft before and they opened all the partitions. I will post some pictures of the room and balcony when I get back.

[minnieiowa]

:cool:We will be on this sailing as well. CAN'T WAIT!!!! There will be 2 adult females, (2) 12 year old girls and (2) 16 year old boys. We are counting these days down and impatiently waiting for mid March.:)

 

 

Have u joined the roll call on the page that can't be named ? ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Always beach bound]

I hope you have a good time!

 

There is also a self serve beer station if that's your thing.

 

Thanks. I knew about the beer station, but somehow I never heard about the wine station. Can't wait to try it out!

[Ciardasully]

Sailing into Montego Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ciardasully]

 

 

 

 

Very industrial.

 

 

BTW, the black smudge was an issue with my lens being dirty. I did not notice it until later.

[Ciardasully]

Bryon and I went down the stairs to deck 0 as soon asa Butch the cruise director gave us permission and we got stuck in gridlock getting off the ship. Many people were walking back to get photo ID. Some people felt that you didn’t need it. Personally, I always bring my passport because I am worried that if something happened like a medical emmergency, I would want to get home.

 

Bryon and I finally got off the ship and into the port. We tried to get our passports stamped at the immigration desk but we were informed that they don’t do that for cruise ship passengers.

 

Craziness in the port.

 

 

We had to planed to do a 3 hour tour that included Rose Hall Manor and some shopping. We finally found our exursion and it turned out that we were the last to arrive and there was only one seat on the bus. The woman working the excursion desk (well really table) said that Carnival did not give them accurate numbers. So they had to call a special bus to take us. While we were waiting, we saw another couple had missed their bus to Ocho Rios. (So when they say that a Carnival Exursion won’t leave without the passengers, they are incorrect.) Finally a van game and our driver was Desmond. We were waiting for one more person who never showed up. The people working the excursions gave our Rose Hall tickets to the driver and away we went.

 

Our driver took us to Rose Hall and brought our tickets to the ticket counter. They take your photo right in front of Rose Hall. It was only $10. We did end up buying it because the price was not unreasonable and as a student of history (my first degree in college. Totally unrelated to my current job and what I am pursuing for degree number 2) and I can appreciate that it takes a lot of money to keep historic places open and out of disrepair.

 

We had a tour guide all to ourselves. We saw the group we were supposed to be with and felt lucky that we weren’t in a big group. The belief is that Rose Hall is haunted. Annie Palmer was the mistress and she killed her three husbands before getting killed by her slave lover. She did not sound like a nice lady at all.

 

 

 

 

[sjcruiser]

Continuing to love the review and photos. Thanks also for an honest review of dinner and the eggplant parm. This is one of my favorite dishes, and it being baked and not fried would have been a real disappointment had I not known ahead of time.

[Ciardasully]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide took us downstairs where the dungeon used to be. Now it is a bar and they display pictures that look like they have paranormal activity going on. On the tour you get a free fruit punch, choice of alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

 

We stopped in the gift shop and I bought a Christmas Ornament. They do take credit cards for a purchase of $25. The people working the gift shop were really nice and not pushy at all.

[Ciardasully]

Continuing to love the review and photos. Thanks also for an honest review of dinner and the eggplant parm. This is one of my favorite dishes, and it being baked and not fried would have been a real disappointment had I not known ahead of time.

 

Glad I was able to help :)

[Ciardasully]

Desmond our driver then took us through the fancy neighborhoods where Americans live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ciardasully]

After that Desmond took us to a shop. We are unsure if this is the actual shop were supposed to go to. They immediately were trying to give us rum samples. I said no several times so they gave me coffee instead and it was good. Bryon was trying to do the math and was trying to find a way to look at his printout of New Hampshire state prices. (I am from Maine and my parents live there and when we drive through NH we usually stop here. NH has tax-free liquor.) Bryon saw that their prices were twice the price than what we can get in NH so that was a “no-go.”

 

We walked up to the supermarket but the prices were in Jamaican dollars, not American. We stared at them for awhile I guess hoping we could magically figure out the conversion. Some Jamaican guy comes up to us and tries to sell us some weed. We said no thanks and he walked off. Then we decide that it would be okay to turn on one of our phones long enough to figure out the conversion. It was $107 Jamaican for $1 US. Bryon does the math (he’s the math whiz) and ascertains that it is a good price. So we buy three bottles of rum, some Jamaican coffee beans and some ground Jamaican coffee for my co-workers (which has gotten rave reviews.)

 

After that Desmond drives us through Montego Bay.

 

 

 

 

Finally we get back to Port. We get out of the van and Bryon goes to give Desmond his tip. Desmond then informs us that it was $35 a person. Bryon is not one to be scammed and Bryon just says “No, it was pre-paid with Carnival.” Desmond looks annoyed but doesn’t push it and we walk into the port complex. I did tell Bryon to let Carnival know just so they are aware. Bryon has absolutely no problem saying no to people but if this happened to someone else, they might be too scared to say no.

 

We walked through the port complex. Bryon noticed a different person working at the immigration desk so he asked if we could get our passports stamped. The girl was on her cell phone and I guess she couldn’t be bothered to stop her conversation to tell us no so we just took our passports and stamped them. Works for us!

[Ciardasully]

Bryon and I were prepared from what we read that people in Jamaica are aggressive but we would be tempted to stay on the ship if we were on a cruise that stopped there again. It wasn’t like the other ports where people are aggressive for the first block and then you are fine. People were aggressive everywhere we went except for at Rose Hall. If you do go to Jamaica, please be careful. Also, we didn’t bring much cash off with us and I took off all my jewelry except for my wedding band and kept it locked in the safe in the room.

 

After we got on the ship we grabbed lunch on the lido. The mashed potatoes looked better than they tasted.

 

 

 

Bryon had ordered pasta at Cucina del Capitano (forgot to get a photo) and this yummy looking drink from the Havana Bar.

 

 

We got back on the ship much earlier than most so we decided to go to trivia. They were having an “around the world” trivia and I was so excited because geography is a strength of mine.

 

Now here is a funny story. Well not “pee your pants” funny but “ha-ha” funny. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with that old show Wings? There was an episode where they were playing trivial pursuit and Lowell, the goofy mechanic was on a team with Roy, the unlikable guy. Well Lowell answered every question with “Ann Margaret.” Roy gets mad and tells him to shut up and stop saying “Ann Margaret.” Lowell says “I have played this game before I know one of the answers is ‘Ann Margaret’” Then the next question gets asked and Roy doesn’t know the answer and it turned out to be “Ann Margaret.”

 

Well Bryon’s “Ann Margaret” answer is “Costa Rica,” at least for anything south of Mexico. The question was “Jurassic Park takes place on an island outside of this country.” I could never sit still as a kid so I have never seen Jurassic Park. I look at Bryon and his mouth starts to open and I say “DON’T say Costa Rica!” I may have been a little more violent in what I say. Bryon says “No, I think it’s Madagascar.” The answer ended up being…Costa Rica. Luckily we still won. If we had lost by one point because of that, we would have been mad.

 

With our Ship on a Stick.

 

 

We stayed for a few more games but did not win again.

[Ciardasully]

Sailway from Montego Bay.

 

 

 

 

[Ciardasully]

Wednesday night was our night at the steakhouse. First we stopped for drinks at Alchemy. Ioana made me a special strawberry drink.

 

 

Fahrenheit 555 was set up to look more like a New York City steakhouse. It was a lot smaller than the Emerald Steakhouse on the Glory. Beware if you are particular about wine. One big change was they got rid of their sommeliers.

 

Accompaniments for our bread.

 

 

Bread.

 

 

Wine and our funny looking decanter.

 

 

Amuse bouche.

 

Lobster Carpaccio.

 

 

Fermented Beer.

 

[Ciardasully]

French Onion Soup.

 

 

Beef Carpaccio.

 

 

Sliced Sun-Ripened Beefsteak Tomato.

 

 

Lobster Bisque.

 

[Ciardasully]

Lobster Ravioli.

 

 

Rib-eye.

 

 

Mashed Potatoes with no wasabi.

 

 

Mashed Potatoes with Wasabe and Creamed Spinach.

 

 

New York Cheesecake.

 

 

Chocolate Sampler.

 

[Ciardasully]

There wasn't much going on the ship. We went up to the Serenity for a little bit.

 

We found this room where they had a lot of history of the Destiny and the Sunshine. Sorry they are blurry.

 

 

 

 

[Ciardasully]

We went back to the room. We found this guy...

 

 

And we found this treat from the Steakhouse.

 

 

[Ciardasully]

Okay, I am off to bed. I hope to get going on Grand Caymon tomorrow. Saturday at the latest.

[grotm]

Loving your review!!! We are going on the Sunshine next Feb. Such a long time :(!! So Im getting my fix here...LOL!! We will have a different itinerary by then, but really enjoying your pictures of the ship!!

[MarathonMama629]

Have u joined the roll call on the page that can't be named ? ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I keep seeing this. What does it mean?

[Travel Alot]

We had issues, too, in Jamaica. After doing the horse back riding excursion, we wanted to go into town to shop. At the port, the signage said $5 for the first 1-4 passengers. We confirmed with a lady in the terminal and then went over to a cab. The cab driver said it would be $20 per person. Needless to say...we did not go. I felt like the people in Jamaica were not as helpful nor availing as in other ports. Just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

[policewife]

Enjoyed the review. We'll be on Sunshine on Sunday, Feb 23.