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

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

[deladane]

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting. I was out of town this weekend and my boyfriend proposed! It's been an exciting couple of days with the start of our engagement, but I haven't had access to my laptop while I was away. I'll try to finish up re-posting this review soon! :)

[deladane]

It took close to 2 hours to reach the Park Guell stop on the HOHO bus (it was stop #13 out of 16 stops total). We got off the bus, turned right on the next side street, and walked 10 minutes uphill to reach the park. It was now after 2pm and we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast at 8am, so we stopped at a small store for bocadillos con chorizo.

 

 

That was the first store we saw, and we didn't know if we would have any other options, so we just ate there. It turns out, a few blocks further up the road, there were several other restaurant options. One of them sold gourmet popsicles, so we got those as a treat for the walk back to the bus after we left the park.

 

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.... I loved the park! It offered beautiful views of the city, and I loved the Gaudi style of art throughout the park. It was like Alice in Wonderland meets a Gingerbread house. We spent about an hour walking around the park and taking it all in. Unfortunately, it was crazy crowded so that made it a little hard to relax and enjoy the atmosphere, but it was still quite a feast for the eyes!

 

 

 

 

 

[RiotAct]

Congrats bride-to-be!

 

Honeymoon will be another cruise I presume?

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Congrats bride-to-be!

 

Honeymoon will be another cruise I presume?

 

Thank you! We actually have a cruise already booked for March and the wedding will be next September, so we don't want that cruise to be the honeymoon. Unfortunately though, with the 2 weeks vacation time already allocated to the March cruise, we won't have enough days off from work to take a honeymoon right after the wedding. Our plan is to do a mini-moon for two or three days right after the wedding (possibly a few nights playing tourist in Manhattan or at a bed and breakfast in the Hamptons), and then we'll take a real honeymoon in early 2017. I am pushing for a cruise for the honeymoon, but maybe to some place more exotic like Australia/New Zealand, or Japan/China? DF would prefer a more relaxed honeymoon instead of the go-go-go type of cruises that I usually prefer so we have a bit of talking to do about it... at least we have a while before we need to book the honeymoon since it won't be until 2017 :)

[deladane]

 

 

 

[RiotAct]

Thank you! We actually have a cruise already booked for March and the wedding will be next September, so we don't want that cruise to be the honeymoon. Unfortunately though, with the 2 weeks vacation time already allocated to the March cruise, we won't have enough days off from work to take a honeymoon right after the wedding. Our plan is to do a mini-moon for two or three days right after the wedding (possibly a few nights playing tourist in Manhattan or at a bed and breakfast in the Hamptons), and then we'll take a real honeymoon in early 2017. I am pushing for a cruise for the honeymoon, but maybe to some place more exotic like Australia/New Zealand, or Japan/China? DF would prefer a more relaxed honeymoon instead of the go-go-go type of cruises that I usually prefer so we have a bit of talking to do about it... at least we have a while before we need to book the honeymoon since it won't be until 2017 :)

 

 

That's too bad about the vacation time, but it will all work out! If you go to NYC for the "mini-moon" be sure to check out Club A Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan... best meal I've ever had.

[Jeafl]

Congratulations on your engagement! How exciting! 😀

[deladane]

That's too bad about the vacation time, but it will all work out! If you go to NYC for the "mini-moon" be sure to check out Club A Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan... best meal I've ever had.

 

Ooh, thanks for the suggestion! I grew up on Long Island and I lived in Manhattan for 6 years so I have been to many restaurants and attractions, but I haven't been to many of the fancier places so it would be fun to check that out. On the other hand, it would also be nice to do something more low key and relaxing after the big day. We'll figure something out :)

[deladane]

Congratulations on your engagement! How exciting! 😀

 

Thank you!!

[Bimmer09]

First- congratulations on your engagement!

 

Great photos from Barcelona-whetting my appetite as I will be there at the end of a cruise on Oct 3rd and 4th. Gaudi tour organized.

 

Excellent review from day 1. Kudos.

 

If you want a nice short honeymoon break-it has nothing to do with the NY region-Sedona, Ariz. Warm, laid back, scenic. Go horseback riding, take a biplane or helicopter tour over the red canyons, have meals in the open air. Use google images...Sedona

 

I can recommend a resort by a lazy creek where you can chill on your balcony with a bottle of wine and feed the ducks down below. Crackling fire at night after a great meal. Few streetlights so you can see the stars....amazing place.

 

Best wishes!

 

Norris

[deladane]

First- congratulations on your engagement!

 

Great photos from Barcelona-whetting my appetite as I will be there at the end of a cruise on Oct 3rd and 4th. Gaudi tour organized.

 

Excellent review from day 1. Kudos.

 

If you want a nice short honeymoon break-it has nothing to do with the NY region-Sedona, Ariz. Warm, laid back, scenic. Go horseback riding, take a biplane or helicopter tour over the red canyons, have meals in the open air. Use google images...Sedona

 

I can recommend a resort by a lazy creek where you can chill on your balcony with a bottle of wine and feed the ducks down below. Crackling fire at night after a great meal. Few streetlights so you can see the stars....amazing place.

 

Best wishes!

 

Norris

 

Thanks for the Sedona suggestion. I am actually very familiar with Sedona as I lived in Phoenix briefly and took a few road trips up there, and DF's parents have lived in Scottsdale for nearly 20 years lol We actually got engaged in Scottsdale this weekend while visiting his parents (and my parents also flew in for the occasion). If we do a mini-moon, it will be fairly close to NY, and will not involve an extra flight, as we will be there for the wedding and don't want to spend too much money/vacation days on the mini-moon... that's what the real honeymoon is for! :)

 

Have a fantastic time in Barcelona! It's one of my favorite cities that I've traveled to, with sooooo many things to do and see :) I have lots more to re-post about our time there, but right now I'm researching Save The Date magnets haha I'll try to post it for you before you leave!

[deladane]

We stayed at the park until around 3pm, then made our way back to the bus stop to finish the last 3 stops to get back to Placa Catalunya.

 

 

 

 

We got back to the hotel at 4pm and checked into our room. We unpacked and freshened up and left the hotel at 6:30pm to get dinner. Our plan for tonight was to eat dinner in Placa Espana and watch the magic fountains. We took the metro for 3 stops to Placa Espana, and took our hotel concierge's advice and ate at Las Arenas. Right when you get upstairs at the subway stop, there is a huge building called Arenas. It used to be a bull ring, and they converted it into a huge shopping center with tons of restaurants. It costs 1 Euro to ride the glass elevators to the top, and you can see a great view of the entire plaza and the city. They upper level has about 10 restaurants, so we walked around looking at the views and deciding where we wanted to eat.

 

 

 

[deladane]

We decided to eat at a restaurant called La Lola. I ordered the paella, and we had an amazing view of the sunset while we ate.

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, we walked over to where they have the magic fountains. Now is a good time to mention that this weekend was the biggest festival of the year in Barcelona, called La Merce Festival. Thousands of people come to Barcelona for this festival, and it made the city extremely crowded. They had a concert outside for a pretty good pop rock band, but this meant that the escalators were closed to access the magic fountains, so we had to detour back around a huge building and up a side street to get to the fountains.

 

[deladane]

When we finally got to the fountains, it was extremely crowded, but we found a spot to stand and watch the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, another downside to the La Merce festival and the rock concert was that they did not play the music which normally accompanies the fountains. As a result, we thought the fountains were pretty, but we got bored fast and we left by 9:45pm and took a taxi back to the hotel.

 

Placa Catalunya was a major hub for the festival, so we could hear people honking their horns and screaming up in our room, but luckily it didn't disturb our sleep. We went to bed around midnight after a long but exciting first day in Barcelona.

[Jeafl]

Barcelona looks amazing! It's definitely going on my bucket list!

[NCTribeFan]

I have booked the Vista Inaugural sailing. :D

 

The planning is pretty overwhelming. I haven't been to Europe in 20 years and back then, used to spend all my time in England (ex is English) with occasional visits to France. I did spend a month in France as a study-abroad (I was a "mature" student compared to my fellow classmates and hung out with the professors); 3 weeks in Paris and a week in Nice. It was fabulous!!

 

Anyway, thankfully, the CC member I met on Pride and who is now my cabin-mate for Splendor and Sunshine also happens to be a Travel Agent. She hooked me up with the TAs organizing lots of things on another site, so a lot of the planning has been done for me.

 

I'm not normally a "spoon-feed-me!" cruiser, but there's just so much to consider on these sailings!

 

I'll fly into Venice and spend 24+ hours there, then take the train to Trieste where we'll do a day trip into Slovenia. Then it's Sailing from Trieste on 5/1, at sea, Dubrovnik, at sea, Athens, Izmir (trip to Ephesus!!! :D ), Crete, at sea, Valletta Malta, Palermo Sicily, Civitavecchia (Rome - no Vatican or Sistine Chapel since Wednesday is Papal Audience day :( ), Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Marseilles (Aix en Provence), and dock in Barcelona.

 

Unfortunately, I just cannot add a post-cruise stay in Barcelona. Guess I'll just have to fly over and do a cruise that's RT from there, right?

 

If I have time this weekend (must go read all about every place and tour we'll be visiting and figure out my flights), I'm going to go back to the beginning and re-read all your descriptions, since we'll be visiting many of the same sites.

 

Again, thank you so much for all the great information and photos.

[deladane]

I have booked the Vista Inaugural sailing. :D

 

The planning is pretty overwhelming. I haven't been to Europe in 20 years and back then, used to spend all my time in England (ex is English) with occasional visits to France. I did spend a month in France as a study-abroad (I was a "mature" student compared to my fellow classmates and hung out with the professors); 3 weeks in Paris and a week in Nice. It was fabulous!!

 

Anyway, thankfully, the CC member I met on Pride and who is now my cabin-mate for Splendor and Sunshine also happens to be a Travel Agent. She hooked me up with the TAs organizing lots of things on another site, so a lot of the planning has been done for me.

 

I'm not normally a "spoon-feed-me!" cruiser, but there's just so much to consider on these sailings!

 

I'll fly into Venice and spend 24+ hours there, then take the train to Trieste where we'll do a day trip into Slovenia. Then it's Sailing from Trieste on 5/1, at sea, Dubrovnik, at sea, Athens, Izmir (trip to Ephesus!!! :D ), Crete, at sea, Valletta Malta, Palermo Sicily, Civitavecchia (Rome - no Vatican or Sistine Chapel since Wednesday is Papal Audience day :( ), Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Marseilles (Aix en Provence), and dock in Barcelona.

 

Unfortunately, I just cannot add a post-cruise stay in Barcelona. Guess I'll just have to fly over and do a cruise that's RT from there, right?

 

If I have time this weekend (must go read all about every place and tour we'll be visiting and figure out my flights), I'm going to go back to the beginning and re-read all your descriptions, since we'll be visiting many of the same sites.

 

Again, thank you so much for all the great information and photos.

 

Oh wow, what a fantastic itinerary! What a bummer that you are going to Rome on a Wednesday, but there is plenty of other things to do and see in Rome that don't involve the Vatican. Have you looked at the Rick Steves guide books? He has one that is specific to Mediterranean cruises which I would highly recommend. Lots of info in one place, and it's a good overview of what to do/see/eat at each port. Try to enjoy the planning phase and don't get too stressed out about it... to me, it's like extending the length of the trip itself because I get so invested in the research that it feels like I'm already there! Let me know if you think of any questions as you continue your planning! :)

[deladane]

Saturday, September 21 - Barcelona, Spain

 

I woke up at 7:30 and it felt like I was sleeping in haha I ordered mom some coffee from the hotel's room service and it arrived 10 minutes later. I finished getting dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. Hotel Lleo offers a great breakfast with tons of meats, cheeses, pastries, other breakfast staples, and even wine!

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, we took the metro to the Gothic Cathedral. Entrance to the church is free as long as you enter before noon, so we made this our first stop to save a little money. We got to the front door of the church and the guard said I needed to cover my knees. Remember that black skirt I carried in my purse every day of the cruise? Well I don't know why, but I totally forgot to bring it today! Oops! Luckily, there was a lady on the church steps selling thin brightly colored shawls for 2 Euros each, so I bought a pretty one and wrapped it around my waist to cover my knees. I guess it worked out okay in the end because that shawl was lighter and less bulky to carry around for the rest of the day than my original black skirt in its pouch.

 

We spent about 30 minutes walking around the cathedral. It was very detailed and pretty, but I was disappointed that there was a La Merce Festival tent set up in the front which blocked the views and made it hard to see the whole thing in one glance.

 

 

 

[NCTribeFan]

I'm actually pretty well set for tours already (although I'm not positive which tours I may be in at some ports). I'm waitlisted on a couple, but the groups I'm in are all fairly small. Even have a private guide and tour for Rome, so I know it will be great even though I won't get to see some sites/sights. No ship excursions for us! Like you, I expect we'll be out and about rather early on most days to beat the Big Bus Crowds.

 

Barcelona does look beautiful!

 

And wine for breakfast? My kind of hotel! ;)

 

Question: I'm a big fan of maxi dresses. Wad them in a ball and throw in your suitcase; wear to dinner with jewelry or around the ship as a swimsuit coverup. Do you think they'd be OK for sightseeing? I don't really have skirts (either wear slacks to work or the maxi dresses).

 

I don't want to rely on being to walk around all day, every day in port in them only to discover they aren't really very practical for climbing around ruins and castles, hopping on/off buses and vaporetto, etc.

[deladane]

I'm actually pretty well set for tours already (although I'm not positive which tours I may be in at some ports). I'm waitlisted on a couple, but the groups I'm in are all fairly small. Even have a private guide and tour for Rome, so I know it will be great even though I won't get to see some sites/sights. No ship excursions for us! Like you, I expect we'll be out and about rather early on most days to beat the Big Bus Crowds.

 

Barcelona does look beautiful!

 

And wine for breakfast? My kind of hotel! ;)

 

Question: I'm a big fan of maxi dresses. Wad them in a ball and throw in your suitcase; wear to dinner with jewelry or around the ship as a swimsuit coverup. Do you think they'd be OK for sightseeing? I don't really have skirts (either wear slacks to work or the maxi dresses).

 

I don't want to rely on being to walk around all day, every day in port in them only to discover they aren't really very practical for climbing around ruins and castles, hopping on/off buses and vaporetto, etc.

 

I think you'll be fine to tour Europe wearing maxi dresses, but you might want to bring a cardigan or something to cover your shoulders for when you go into churches. Many tourist sites have specific dress codes for keeping your shoulders and knees covered- not sure what style maxi dresses you have. Are you able to climb stairs in your dresses? If so, then you should be fine for getting on/off buses and the vaporetto. Depending on the weather, you might be a bit hot in the long dress. It was 95 degrees when we were in Athens and Turkey in mid-September and everyone was overheated in shorts and tshirts. Also make sure you have super comfortable walking shoes because you will be doing A LOT of walking!

[NCTribeFan]

Thanks once again. Now I'm off to read the descriptions of all our tours and see if I can figure out which ones I'm actually signed up for and which I need to pre-pay and when. And get an idea of what the weather might be like in the different regions.

 

Even with all the help from the various TAs who have set up these excursions, it's still a major undertaking!!

 

But it will so be worth it!!:D

[deladane]

 

 

Next, we went down to the marina to see the Columbus Monument, the wave bridge, and the harbor. It was such a beautiful day outside, and there was lots of activity along the waterfront so it was fun to wander around and people watch for a little while.