The Sun was shining on the Sunshine, Oct 10-18

[BiscayneBay460]

This is my first review. So, a little about us. Myself and husband, daughter and her boyfriend, son, sister and brother-in-law, aged 14-55. This was my family's third Carnival cruises. My sister and brother in laws 7th cruise with Carnival. This was everyone's first cruise on Sunshine. I had read all the reviews on CC, good and bad, but went into this vacation with an open mind.

 

We traveled to Cocoa Beach on the day before our cruise. We stayed at the Best Western, close proximity to port. Clean rooms and ok breakfast.

 

Now to the Sunshine. We had FFTF and practically walked straight onto the ship at about 10:30-10:45. Our cabins were on the 7th deck. Perfect deck in my opinion. Took 2 flights of stairs up to Lido, 2 flights down to 5th deck. Those are the most important decks. We had 2 interiors and 1 balcony. I had read about concerns about the temperature in the cabins, but we about froze. No concerns for us! I thought the cabins were smaller than the others the we had on the Freedom and Conquest. The bathrooms are laid out differently, but the shower was the biggest. No shower curtain up against you while showering.

 

I had read about over crowding, but we were always able to find lounge chairs either at the serenity or by the beach pool. The lines for buffet or dining room moved quickly.

 

The Marketplace (lido buffet) had smaller areas to get your food, but there were more of them. There were 2 salad bar, main entree, and dessert areas. I thought it moved quickly. The pizza and deli were in the main area also. The BlueIguana and Guy's burgers are out by the beach pool. The Havana Bar was a great place to eat, with seating looking out aft. We tried JiJi and Cucina for lunch and both were good. We had dinner in Cucina del Capitano and enjoyed the peace and quiet, the food was good, and the wait staff very attentive.

 

The lobby was laid out differently, with the bar in the center. Not much seating due to this. The casino was placed on both sides of the walkway on the fifth floor, so you had to walk thru to get to Ocean Plaza. The smoke smell was incredibly strong. The stairs at the back of the casino had smoke smell all the way up to 7th deck. The ocean plaza was usually crowded, but that was where the fun was. Karaoke, a band (DejaVu) that was great, and trivia was always held here. The comedians were in the Limelight Lounge and it was not designed right. Some of the seats are actually behind the stage and you must watch the show on TV screens. The Liquid Lounge for the Playlist shows is noticeably smaller than its counterpart on other ships, but we always got a seat.

 

The DejaVu band was really good. They played a mixture of decades of music and were the band for Superstar live karaoke. The Playlist shows were OK. My husband says I'm very blunt. We saw Latin Nights, Studio VIP, and Epic Rock. We saw Epic Rock last year on the Conquest and I thought last years was better. For all the shows, there was one man , I think his name was Ben, that I thought really sang well. It seemed as though the women all screamed instead of sang their songs.

 

The ports:

 

St. Maarten - We took the water taxi over to Phillipsburg ($7 unlimited trips each person). We walked a couple of blocks back from the beach and caught the public bus to Mullet Bay ($2 each way per person). It was a beautiful beach. We rented 2 chairs and an umbrella for the day for $15. The sky was blue and the water clear, white sandy beach, just gorgeous. By the time we left, it had started to fill up. We took the bus back to Phillipsburg and walked around the shops a little then back to the ship.

 

St. Kitts - As we pulled into port that morning, I could see a rock church not far from the port. We walked around the shops. There were men there with monkeys for you to hold and make pictures, one wanted $10 and another $5 for the pictures. We then walked to that church. It was St. George's parish church. It was open and we walked inside then up to the top of the tower. Five flights straight up! My sister and I made it to the fourth level, my husband and son all the way to the top. Then back into town and to the ship.

 

San Juan - Such a pretty place. Cobblestone streets and beautiful buildings. We walked a few blocks then got on the free trolley that circles the town. We went to Castillo del Morro. $5 to get in, but the view is well worth it. There is also a cemetery right next to it. The fort is for the most part the highest point, so we walked back and stopped at shops on the way back to port.

 

Grand Turk - we used this as a beach day. Got off and chose lounge chairs partly in the shade and a couple in the sun so we could switch out. Again the water was clear and the sun was shining in the blue sky.

 

We had great time and enjoyed the Sunshine. The 8 day cruise is great, its only drawback is the itinerary. We were on the ship 10:30 Saturday until 9:00 Tuesday, then 4 ports of call back to back. I would prefer them spread out a little. It wouldn't stop me from going again though.

 

Off the ship and on the road back to Tennessee by 8:15. Can't wait until our next cruise!

[Shadowdancer604]

Did you by chance save your FUN TIMES from the sailing and would you be able to post those up as PDF's or email them to me? We are doing the same routing on January 8th and I would like to post the fun times in our roll call forum.:)

[BiscayneBay460]

I did keep fun times. I tried to add photos to review with no luck. I can try to email them, or when my computer literate child comes home, she can maybe add them to my post.

[tlw440]

We were in all 4 ports with you, we were on the Breeze 10/10 to 10/18.

[jimbo5544]

Nice review and pretty succinct We also loved the Breeze on our sailing on her in August and are sailing again (different itin) in February.

[Shadowdancer604]

I did keep fun times. I tried to add photos to review with no luck. I can try to email them, or when my computer literate child comes home, she can maybe add them to my post.

 

If you have them in PDF - Please send to scott.cowden@gmail.com

 

Much appreciated.