Mother/Daughters Sunshine Cruise to St. Martin, St. Kitts, San Juan, Grand Turk

[blessedwith12]

Just back from the Sunshine (January 8 - 16) and had the most perfect cruise!! It may take me a few days to post an entire review so I hope you can stay along for the ride. I hope to post lots of pictures but let me warn you...most of the pictures will probably have the daughters in them. So, I don’t have great photos of the ship or the food without usually including the girls. So, you’ve been warned! First, I’ll do introductions. If you could care less to hear about us, I understand. Just skip this post and move on to get on with the cruise! But for those who like the background of the cruisers, I’ll go ahead. I am Patty, 55, married and a mother of 12 - yes, 12 children ages 10 - 30. This is my 6th cruise and all have been on Carnival. Prior cruises were on the Holiday, Inspiration, Fantasy, Legend and Miracle. All have been Caribbean 5 - 8 day cruises. This cruise I’m traveling with four of my daughters. Hannah is 24 and this was her 4th cruise. For Grace (20) and Mercy (18), this was their second cruise. And it was a first cruise for Abby (16). We originally booked a Journeys Cruise in April on the Sunshine because I wanted my daughters to see St. Kitts and St. Lucia. Then another one of my daughters - I have 8 - announced her pregnancy and she was due the week we would be gone. This was the first baby for her and her husband and none of us wanted to miss it so we moved the cruise up to January. I was disappointed that we would miss St. Lucia, but that was better than missing the birth of our newest grandbaby!

So, our new itinerary included St. Martin, St. Kitts, San Juan and Grand Turks. We booked Early Saver and it cost us $50/person to change the date on our cruise.

[Luke Saint Joe]

Off to a great start.

Subscribing.

We're on Sunshine Journey cruise, Aug 25 - group of 12 - not 12 children. :)

Looking forward to your review.

 

Lorrie

[blessedwith12]

Thanks Lorrie! You will have a great cruise on the Sunshine!! I've hit a small glitch with the review. I have to upload some of the pictures first :( Hoping this won't take long!

[blessedwith12]

We decided to drive from Ohio to George , where we have family, and then on to Florida. My husband was staying with my sister and her husband along with our three younger children Ben (14), Tara (12), and Tess (10). Some of you may remember Ben from my previous reviews. He has epilepsy and had part of his brain removed about 5.5 years ago. He still has seizures, albeit less frequently, and has developmental delays. It is always stressful leaving him because seizures are so unpredictable. But I am blessed to have a husband willing to take off of work and stay with the younger children so that I can have a girls’ cruise! He enjoys a cruise but isn’t as addicted as I am! He enjoys more his fishing trips to Canada with the guys.

Anyways, so we made it to Georgia, celebrated a late Christmas, spent the night and left around 4 am the next morning for Cocoa Beach.

Edited January 28, 2016 by blessedwith12
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[blessedwith12]

I am struggling getting photos to load from Shutterfly. I have done this before on reviews but for some reason it isn't working for me today.

Edited January 28, 2016 by blessedwith12

[blessedwith12]

Even though it's 4am, you can tell how excited we are!!

[blessedwith12]

It rained part of the drive down but we still enjoyed seeing the palm trees and Spanish moss. We had to stop at the Florida Welcome Center and get our orange juice or grapefruit juice!

[blessedwith12]

On our roll call, one of the members had posted a link to a site that offers discounted stay and park packages for cruisers. From those choices, we discovered Walkulla Suites. For not much more than the price of parking at the port, we had a 2 bedroom suite, parking for the cruise and transport. Plus, I love smaller mom and pop style hotels. This was just what I wanted. Oceanfront, pretty landscaping and a price I loved! We arrived before check-in time and our room wasn’t ready so they switched us to a different room by the pool. We headed down to the ocean and at first it felt warm in the sun! There were people swimming, but it was definitely too cold for us! We collapsed on the beach and soaked in some sun until we got too cold. Later that evening, we went to the original Ron Jon’s and a few other stores to pick up some last minute items. We were really tired and not in the mood to go anywhere nice to eat - especially knowing what feasts lay ahead of us on the Sunshine - so we ended up eating lunch and dinner at the Taco Bell/KFC next door.

 

 

 

[blessedwith12]

More from Wakulla Suites - just because I think it is so cute!! It seems harder and harder to find the smaller hotels! I forgot to take any pictures of the suite but it was very functional and clean. The bedding was very nice and comfortable. While we were there it was mostly occupied by senior citizens escaping the north!

 

 

 

 

 

[blessedwith12]

Recovering from the drive!

 

[blessedwith12]

I had a small "difficulty" while packing luggage into the truck. It had been raining, and when I pushed my luggage up, I somehow managed to end up with 4 or 5 muddy blotches all down my white pants leg! This was a theme that continued on throughout the cruise. I became a dirt magnet accident waiting to happen.

 

We had to drive to a parking lot in front of the Doubletree Inn to leave our vehicle and it was a little confusing there. The area wasn’t marked well and at first we thought we were at the wrong place. We were the only ones waiting for transport. There was a woman in a car who got out and told us we were in the right place and that the transport was on the way. We had an 11:00 pickup and then the driver stopped at a couple of additional hotels to pick up more guests after us. We met 2 fun groups who were also headed for the Sunshine. One of the groups we continued to run into during the cruise and we really enjoyed them. They were a lot of fun to be around and until we learned their names, we would just refer to them as “our friends.”

 

Waiting for transport - feeling very lonely! We had expected more groups to be waiting.

 

The lady in the car waiting to tell us that our ride was on its way.

[pcvtmom]

Great start! Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise on the Sunshine. We've been on her once and have her booked again for March. Your all girls cruise sounds like fun!

[blessedwith12]

Thanks! We did have fun on our girls cruise! I don't know when I have ever laughed so much. My daughters are so much fun to be with - they can make the most routine grocery store trip fun! I'm sure you'll have a great time in March! Maybe my posts will remind you about things you have forgotten!

[blessedwith12]

I have sailed out of Mobile, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Charleston. I think Port Canaveral was the easiest, quickest and best organized of any of the embarkation ports I’ve been to. The employees were all very friendly, even port security who can sometimes be a little bit rude. I think we were on board by about 12:30.

 

[blessedwith12]

From reading other reviews, I knew the Havana Bar might be the best place to find seats and we were able to find a table to seat 5 by the back windows. Throughout the cruise, this was the most common place that we would eat breakfast and lunch. We could almost always find a spot and we would leave our beach bags, etc. there while we went to fill our plates. The Sunshine does have the large plates rather than the trays. I miss the trays, but of course it is possible to go on without them. :) For instance at breakfast I would stack 2 cups together, pouring the Guava juice in the top one and leaving the bottom one for chocolate milk. (Yes, I never grew up. I don't drink tea or coffee but love chocolate milk and hot chocolate!) I would try to find room on my plate for the carton of milk and then hold my plate in one hand and the cup in the other. But more about breakfast later.... we are still at lunch before sail away! I headed to Ji Jis for Mongolian Wok (free at lunchtime) and had shrimp with black bean sauce. This continues to be one of my favorite lunch time choices! I also got a few things from the buffet which I believe they call Comfort Kitchen. I looked for the Key Lime pie, which previously they've always had at embarkation, and couldn't find it. I wasn't too disappointed though consoling myself with some caramel cheesecake! Some of the daughters went to the Captains Pasta at Cucina del Capitano (also free at lunch) and others went to the Blue Iguana Cantina. We were all happy with our choices and the fun had begun! Because the weather was damp and chilly, more people were inside and the areas were rather crowded, but this was to be expected.

Edited January 29, 2016 by blessedwith12

[blessedwith12]

We wanted to have a table to ourselves at dinner so we headed over to the Sunrise Restaurant. It is listed in the Funtime as "Dining Inquiries" and was from 1-3. I've seen this done several different ways on ships. On some, you can check at the door with an Assistant Maitre d' to see what you had been assigned. Then you were either given a seat until they could help you or you stood in line until you could be helped. This time, we had to stand in line not knowing what type of table we had been assigned. We probably waited about 20 minutes before an assistant came down the line to see what questions people had. As it turned out, we were already at a table for 5 so we had no need to wait and get our table changed. It turned out that the assistant had been hi-jacked by an irate cruiser for some time and that had caused the delay in being able to find out our status.

 

The doors to the rooms were open, so we checked out our room and explored a little before the Muster Drill. The Muster Drill was....a Muster Drill. Crowded, long, but of course necessary and thankfully done before sail away.

 

While I have never grown up and started drinking coffee, these daughters LOVE their coffee - and especially specialty coffee drinks. Before we had even sailed, they had their first. They were so surprised when throughout the week the barista - a lovely lady the girls loved - remembered them AND their preferences!

 

 

[blessedwith12]

The Sail Away Party started at 4:30 and there were more people involved than I've seen in the past. This was our first chance to see Jaime Dee in action and she brought a great deal of energy to the party as did the rest of the Entertainment Staff. It was a great start to the cruise and really set a fun tone.

 

Now, let me tell you a little bit about our cabin. We booked an inside room for 5 and had room 2292. On our last girls cruise we had 5 in a room on the Fantasy. It was crowded, but we managed. When my husband and I cruise, we like a balcony, but with the daughters, we are usually only in our room to change clothes and sleep, so an inside is fine. Trying to save money, we liked the idea of a longer cruise with the ports we wanted and were willing to once again do 5 in a room. Well, the way this room was set up made this our smallest room ever!! Two of the twins were pushed together to make a queen. Two bunks were in an L shape over the queen and a trundle was on the floor next to the queen - directly behind the dresser. For me on the queen, getting into bed meant crawling across the bed and ducking under the bunks. It was hysterical!!! Watching 5 females trying to get dressed before dinner was a show in itself. We accused 2 of the daughters (Mercy and Hannah) of having permanent residence at the mirror. If you opened 2 of the closet doors, you could create another "dressing room". If you stood on the trundle bed, you could have a 2nd row place at the mirror. If one of the girls was using a straightener or curling wand, I would have to crawl under the cord, over the trundle mattress, push someone aside to get my things out of the drawer, squeeze into the little hallway to open the door to the closet and then proceed to the bathroom. Yes, at times we hurt each other making the journey!! And we laughed and laughed. I would NOT recommend this set up for anyone unless you have a great sense of humor, you really want to spend some up close and together quality time, and you are really cheap. It was a challenge but so worth it to have the memories we have of the week!

 

We have a running joke where we call ourselves lizards and here is our door decoration with that theme.

[josefina022]

Loving the review! What a special trip for you & your girls! Looking forward to reading the review, especially because I'm going to those same ports in a few months. Thanks for taking the time!

[blessedwith12]

Joesphina022, thanks! I'm hoping to post lots of pictures of the ports. I wasn't particularly excited about returning to St. Martin and going to San Juan. As it turned out, St. Martin was probably our favorite day and we loved San Juan as well! I knew I like St. Kitts and Hannah had been to Grand Turk and had liked it. I really loved this itinerary and the Sunshine!!

[blessedwith12]

Moving on to dinner....

I think every cruise I've been on has had the Sweet and Sour Shrimp for the first night. This cruise was no exception, except, the long breaded shrimp had been replaced with a popcorn style shrimp. A little disappointing, but good none the less. It came with a fried rice that had shrimp in it. I also had fruit cocktail for a starter and one of my favorite desserts of this cruise - Vanilla Creme Brulee. Our wait staff was awesome!! We had Enrique from the Philippines, Norica from Romania and Satiade also from the Philippines. They quickly learned that we LOVE bread and kept us well stocked each evening. They also would remember that Mercy liked milk with dessert and Grace and Abby liked hot chocolate. They would bring those without even being asked most evenings. Our laughter continued through dinner, so much so, that I had to make sure Norica didn't think we were laughing at her. It seemed like every time she came to the table we were doubled over with laughter. She soon realized we were a high energy table and she joined in the joking with us.

 

Before dinner we had attended the Welcome Aboard Show. If you've cruised before, you know the format. Once again, Jaime did an awesome job of getting the crowd involved and bringing energy to the show. How she runs and jumps in her stilettos, I have no idea!

 

After dinner, we went up on deck, grabbed some blankets and popcorn, and found some loungers. We weren't really interested in the movie, but wanted to be up under the stars even though it was a little cool. Just after we got all snuggled in, it started to rain. So we turned our blankets back in and decided to call it a night. We still had unpacking to do. As we are walking back to our cabin, one of the girls noticed that I had black spots on the back of my off white skirt. It looked like black paint had been loaded on a brush and splattered on me. But wait, Abby has it on the back of her too! Now, it seems to me like cruise ships are one of the cleanest places on earth. Someone is always cleaning something. Where in the world did I get into something that looked like black paint?? A mystery we never solved. Earlier in the day Abby had an incident with her white pants so now we both seem to be in a competition to see who can get the dirtiest!

 

The new sweet and sour shrimp.

 

 

 

Mercy and her Chicken a la Grecque

[bingo3]

Enjoying your review and it is obvious you made wonderful memories with your daughters! I will be taking 2 of my 3 grands (from my 1 and only son, so I can't even fathom 12 children, LOL!) on their first cruise in May, and am so excited! The baby will turn 1 while we are on the cruise, so will be a few more years before we take him.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this!

debbie

[tkotis]

Great review can't wait to read more going on the Sunshine Jan13 with my family. Did the public areas feel crowded on sea days?

[jmnarc]

My daughter, my parents and I are going on this exact cruise in April! Looking forward to reading more (I expect my daughter and I will have a few giggles of our own [emoji6])

[jimbri]

Great review. Looking forward to the rest!

[NHNEV2003]

Subscribing to this thread--we just booked the exact same itinerary for November, 2017, on the Conquest.

 

We love Grand Turk, and have wanted to get to St. Maarten for a few years now.

 

Am looking forward to lots of pics!! :)