Anyone who has been on the Carnival Sunshine

[Cruisindaddy11485]

Hello my name is Chris and will be sailing on the Carnival Sunshine with my wife Lynn and 3 year old Daughter Libby-Jane, My parents and sister her husband and 2 kids (3 and 1) will be joining us as well. It is my parents, Lynn, Libby-Jane and my first time cruising.

 

I would basically just love to hear from anyone who has been on the sunshine to give tips for my families first time on a cruise and what we should look out for on this ship. What are some of the things we should definitely do vs some of the things we should maybe avoid.

 

The ports we are going to are St. Thomas, Nassau, San Juan and Grand Turk so any tips for these ports would be great as well. I would love to know of some excursions that might be well worth checking out or even just locations to go and check out, or not go to as well.

 

Thanks in advance for any of your help.

[bigtime cruiser]

We was on the Carnival sunshine February 23 beautiful ship we are also going on it now may 30 you should go to guys burgers go to the burrito stand go to the Italian restaurant fabulous specially for dinner is $12 hit the comedy shows go to afternoon tea time it will be in the fun times the trivia is also very fun the serenity is beautiful in the spa is not bad either

[leedm]

Go to the review section you can read all the good and bad

[Cruisindaddy11485]

I have been doing that as well but I would just like some ideas more specific to the fact that I have a young child with us on the cruise. We will put her in camp carnival from time to time but also wouldn't mind suggestions of things to do with a 3 year old on the cruise ship(and ports if possible)

[smileyone]

In Grand Turk, we walked down the beach to the right when we left the dock. There is an area with lots of rocks. You will find lots of broken conch shells. Walk a little past the rocks and there will be some that are not broken. They are big shells. We brought back four. A dog which I believed is named Cooper from reading another review joined us. He would go to a hole in the sand and smell. Sometimes he would dig and other times he would move onto the next hole. He brought up many crabs and played with them but never killed them. After getting our conch shells, we walked back towards the ship dock and crossed over to the other beach. We went to Jack's Shack and "Cooper" laid under our chairs for most of the day. Topher wasn't there when we first arrived. About an hour later he showed up and started his mad digging. He never quit for the rest of the time we were there. If you haven't heard of him, go to youtube and search "digging dog Grand Turk". The kids (age 9) haven't stopped talking about these dogs.

[R&S]

I would basically just love to hear from anyone who has been on the sunshine to give tips for my families first time on a cruise and what we should look out for on this ship. What are some of the things we should definitely do vs some of the things we should maybe avoid.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any of your help.

 

Here are a few suggestions since you have some new cruisers among you. Hope some of it helps. First off I would get Faster To The Fun for at least one of the cabins. Only one person in the cabin needs to get it but the advantage is that room will be ready when you board. Instead of carrying around all of your carry on's, waiting on the rooms to be serviced from the previous cruise, you will have a cabin available for your entire group to drop off the carry on items. It will also give you priority at the Guest Services desk and other things. It will show up under the Shore Excursion on your booking. (Availability varies so keep checking back.)

 

Find the Havana Bar area in the back of the ship. It is behind the buffet and is a perfect place to find a place to sit during lunch and breakfast. Ji Ji's and Cucina Del Capitano are both located in this area and free for lunch. Try both!

 

The Pizza is amazing and the kids will want to live on it alone. Actually, a few adults in our group wanted to as well. Sometimes there is a line, but it is worth the wait.

 

Our favorite bar was the Alchemy Bar. Iwana (spelling may be a bit off) was the best bartender. Even though there is a menu, ask for a prescription pad and mark off your favorite flavors and alcohol and they will create a unique drink that you will love.

 

Go early to the comedy show, some seats are to the side of the stage and you watch the show on a monitor. It's still good but not the same.

 

That should get you started. We loved the Sunshine and her crew.

 

Enjoy your cruise,

[Sauer-kraut]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

You will get all kinds of information on sailing with children on the Family Cruises boards!! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Have fun, TAKE NAPS!! very important, and just enjoy exploring the ship.

[Cruisindaddy11485]

Thank you for the tips R&S, we have gotten out faster to the fun taken care of already thankfully. We are really looking forward to this cruise and feel like we already need to plan our second cruise just out of excitement of this one.

[krismas_tina]

We were on the Sunshine last July, and it was our favorite cruise ever! The ship is beautiful. I love the new decor. Ocean Plaza is a nice quiet area to hang out at to get away from the crowds and out of the sun. Red Frog Pub was fun too, good music and good drinks.

 

Like others have said, arrive early to shows in the showroom or comedy club. Both venues are small and get crowded very quickly. I think we only went to the showroom twice on a 12 night cruise because there weren't any seats by the time we arrived!

The Waterworks area looked like fun...a lot of little people running around in there!

 

The Havana Bar has really good coffee (for a fee), and small bites at breakfast and lunch.

 

The Serenity area is gorgeous! And the pool is fresh water, not salt water! If you get there early enough, you can even find a lounge chair! It's a pretty busy place.

 

As for ports...San Juan has the forts. There is a trolley that will drop you off. We went to El Morro and it was interesting, and I hate history! San Juan is also just a great place to wander around.

 

In St. Thomas it's pretty easy to take a taxi to a beach. Magen's Bay is really beautiful. A lot of people seem to go shopping there, but probably not the thing to do with a little one!

 

Grand Turk is easy, just walk off the ship and enjoy the free pool and beach.

 

I have no idea about Nassau. We were only there once and did the dolphin swim.

 

You picked a great ship! Hope you have a great cruise!

[Cruisindaddy11485]

Thank you Krismas Tina, I actually think I'm getting most excited about Grand Turk the most just because I might go do the flowrider there and just hang out at the margaritaville pool. I think we have some plans for Nassau already going to the pirate museum and the outdoor shopping area. Mostly we just aren't sure what we are gonna do in St Thomas and San Juan. Thanks for the positivity about the ship also. I have been reading a lot of mixed reviews.

[cruizinisthebest]

Thank you Krismas Tina, I actually think I'm getting most excited about Grand Turk the most just because I might go do the flowrider there and just hang out at the margaritaville pool. I think we have some plans for Nassau already going to the pirate museum and the outdoor shopping area. Mostly we just aren't sure what we are gonna do in St Thomas and San Juan. Thanks for the positivity about the ship also. I have been reading a lot of mixed reviews.

 

 

I think you'll be good with any of the beaches in St. Thomas. Magen's Bay is really popular but there are many others that may be less crowded but just as beautiful. The kids will enjoy any of them. Did you look on the ports of call board? Alot of good information can be found there.

 

When we visited San Juan, we were without kids but I remember it being alot centered around food, the forts, and walking. Catch the trolley if you can. San Juan can be tricky but a nice stop if you plan it. Again, take a look at the port of call board and see what's there. Enjoy your vacation!

[KatieCharlotte]

In Nassau, you could take an excursion or public transportation to the Ardastra Gardens & Zoo. Not the most exciting port activity for adults, but probably perfect for families with little kids. We're considering the same itinerary for next year's family cruise and were thinking that the youngest and less adventurous in our group would head to the zoo, while the rest went parasailing.

 

In St Thomas, we're interested in taking an excursion to St. John and snorkeling, but I think that would be too long a day with very young kids. A beach on St Thomas would probably be better.

Edited May 27, 2014 by KatieCharlotte

[rubygigi]

Hello my name is Chris and will be sailing on the Carnival Sunshine with my wife Lynn and 3 year old Daughter Libby-Jane, My parents and sister her husband and 2 kids (3 and 1) will be joining us as well. It is my parents, Lynn, Libby-Jane and my first time cruising.

 

I would basically just love to hear from anyone who has been on the sunshine to give tips for my families first time on a cruise and what we should look out for on this ship. What are some of the things we should definitely do vs some of the things we should maybe avoid.

 

The ports we are going to are St. Thomas, Nassau, San Juan and Grand Turk so any tips for these ports would be great as well. I would love to know of some excursions that might be well worth checking out or even just locations to go and check out, or not go to as well.

 

Thanks in advance for any of your help.

 

We just got off the Sunshine on Sunday with our almost 3 year old and 15 month old sons. And we did that same itinerary on the Liberty in January. :)

 

Places to let the little ones play:

Waterworks water slides

Putt putt course

Pirate playground on deck 10 outside of Camp Carnival

Camp Carnival was great! Our oldest loves it! We took our 15m old to play during the early morning playtime on sea days. Also, they feed the kids dinner at 6pm in the Lido restaurant, so our oldest ate there each night.

 

Sleeping:

Not sure what type of cabin you have, but the baby slept in a pack n play in the bathroom and our oldest slept on the couch turned bed but we put the mattress on the floor since he was new to the "big boy bed" and we didn't want him to fall off. We brought the video monitors and would go to the balcony after they went to sleep and would keep an eye on them through the monitors. In January we had adjoining rooms with the in laws and we would do the same thing and go to their side. That beats going to bed with them at 8pm!

 

Dining:

We had to take our 15m old to the dining room with us each night, so to speed things up I would go first, order for everyone (they post the menu outside of the restaurant), and then my husband would come with the baby about 20 min. later when the food was arriving. That way the baby would eat something other than 3 rolls for dinner!

 

Nighttime:

Our 15m old liked the Playlist productions fortunately so we were able to see these awesome shows! We would get there early and claim the seats on level 5 that is like a long couch with a little table. We would take turns strolling him around until showtime. There was usually live music in Ocean Plaza afterwards so we would go there until he got fussy.

 

Ports:

Nassau - walked to Junkanoo Beach, ate at Twin Brothers at the Fish Fry

San Juan - walked through old San Juan to El Morro, ate at Raices

St. Thomas - tram to Paradise Point, taxi to Mountain Top, Drake's seat, and Magen's bay

Grand Turk - easy beach day right off the ship!

 

I'm sure there's plenty more, so if you have any questions about the ship or port I'm happy to help! We loved the Sunshine! We booked a cruise onboard for the Sunshine again in February so that both boys will be old enough for CC and we can at least eat dinner in peace!

 

Good luck! :)

[rubygigi]

Oh and Port Canaveral was awesome! We've sailed from Tampa, NYC, and Miami and this was definitely the smoothest! They sent us through the short cuts through all of the lines (and those weren't that long even). Having 2 kids under 3 and all of their stuff in tow has its benefits on occasion!

[Cyndi03]

We were on the Sunshine re-positioning cruise. Love it. All the above tips are great. I would add that the omelet station is back by the Havana bar. It takes a while for people to know this so the lines are not long, especially in the beginning of the trip. They will make any kind of eggs (real) that you want.

[dolphin2012]

We were on the sunshine last year in europe and loved it!

 

Bring a highliter to use for the fun times newspaper that arrives every night.

 

The pools and slides are fun for the kids. Also every nite is a dive-in movie with free popcorn. They have blankets also. We enjoyed this sometimes more than the shows, very relaxing.

 

There is mini golf, pool, ropes course, pingpong on the upper deck. Also a walking track which is nice too.

 

You could bring a portable dvd player and movies since the tv choices are very limited. My daughter also loves the free room service, especially at breakfast when you have to be at a port early.

 

Free ice cream and pizza all day!

 

We do the carnival excursions so i dont have to worry about being late back to the ship. You can book these now and no worries. I know its more expensive but i dont want to worry with my kid.

 

Elegant nite is fun to dress up. The pictures are always great too to purchase.

 

The ice carving and hairy man contest are always my daughters favorite also.

 

so much to do ! Have fun!