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Our Carnival Sunrise B2B to Bermuda?? & New England / Canada (with pics) – 9/16/2019.


Jamman54
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Ahoy! Cruise Critic family. My lovely wife Patti and I have recently returned from B2B cruises on the newly refurbished Carnival Sunrise (nee Carnival Triumph). I apologize for the delay in getting this review started, but the “cruise crud” that I caught the last couple of days on board ship, developed into full blown bronchitis once we got home. The meds have finally started to kick in, so here I am, ready to bring you all the action.

 

I still have a multitude of behind the scenes prep work to do, but I have enough done to get this party started. For those that are wondering, our go to camera is the Canon PowerShot XS710 HS, and our water camera is the Fuji FinePix XP60.

Our format will remain the same as our past reviews with a day by day account. As always, there will be many, many pictures with plenty of explanations and details. We strive to make you feel that you are cruising right along with us. So, grab yourself a DOD, hop on board with us, and join the fun!

 

We met quite a few Cruise Critic members during our 13 days aboard the Sunrise. Some may have been in some of our pictures, but for privacy sake, I will not identify who they are. I know many of you will be reading, so if you see yourself and you want to say “Hey that’s me or us” I say go or it!

 

We love to respond to readers and answer questions. A lot of information about a lot of different things shows up during a review, and that’s a good thing. This worked so well during our last review, that I’m going to ask one small favor from all of you once again to help keep things neat and flowing. One of the good changes when Cruise Critic updated their forums, was that I am not restricted now to the amount of images that I can use in a post. Though I will strive to keep the amount of images I use in a post to around 10, the point is that most posts will be longer than in the past. If you need to quote my posts, or any other posters quotes, to ask a question, make a statement , or for any other reason, please try to remember to edit the quotes down to what you are asking about or thoughts that you are conveying. This will help cut down on scrolling down through multiple long posts to get to fresh content. Thank you all so much for your help!

 

We booked these cruises over a year and a half out, and when we booked them we were booked on the Carnival Triumph. I was happy that the Carnival Triumph was coming back to New York, as I had sailed on her twice (1999 & 2002) out of New York up to Canada. Patti had never sailed on the Carnival Triumph, so she was looking forward to it. It was several months after we booked that the announcement was made that the Triumph was going to be refurbished and renamed the Carnival Sunrise. We had enjoyed our cruises on the Sunshine, so we had no concerns about sailing on a refurbished ship.

 

Now, the weeks that we chose made for a very interesting and unique B2B. The first half of the B2B would be a six day cruise to Bermuda with two overnights…..

 

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I think that everyone pretty much knows that this didn’t happen thanks to hurricane Humberto, but instead of giving you the end game now, I’ll explain bit by bit during the review, so you’ll understand what we knew and when we knew it.

 

The second half of the B2B would be a seven day cruise to New England and Canada…..

 

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And so we counted down the months to these cruises, when about a month before we get this email from Carnival…….

 

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The Sunrise will take the passengers from the 9/12 4 day Bermuda cruise back to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, drop them off, then sail to Brooklyn to embark the 9/16 cruise. This will push back the check-in times by two hours.

 

The roll call boards lit up like fireworks on the Fourth of July, and there was much gnashing of teeth, and I really couldn’t blame them. Many who were flying in from other parts of the country had booked hotels in midtown Manhattan, and now they had to figure out how to get to Brooklyn to board the ship. For us it really didn’t matter as we were planning to use a car service to get to the port. In fact, getting to Brooklyn is easier for us than going to Manhattan. Bottom line is, Carnival had no control over this.

 

Now all that remains is to count down the days until we board the ship.

 

To be continued…..

Edited by Jamman54
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Day # 1 -  9/16/19 – Embarkation Day!!

 

We are up early to finish our packing and wait for the car service to arrive. I had watched the Carnival Sunrise come back to New York on the harbor and port webcams. As of now, we still didn’t know where our cruise would be going. One thing for sure is that we wouldn’t be going to Bermuda, as hurricane Humberto was forecast to arrive there the same time we were supposed to. Carnival would only say that they were still going over their options, and that we would find out when we got to the pier. We are thinking that we are going north to Canada for sure.

 

Before I packed my laptop in my carry-on bag, I took one more look on the marine traffic map to see if the Sunrise had left the Manhattan pier to begin her short journey over to Brooklyn.  When I put the cursor over the ship, it said that the destination for the Sunrise was Charleston, Charleston? I said “Patti, we’re going to Charleston!” That was a shock as Charleston wasn’t even on our radar. Being that this was a six day cruise from New York, other than going north to Canada, it doesn’t leave many options to satisfy the Jones Act by stopping at a foreign port. I could see maybe a two day run down to Nassau and then two days back. But stopping at Charleston would mean maybe a quick humanitarian run to Freeport then back to New York. I guess we’ll find out at the pier.

 

I had arranged for the car service to pick us up at 10:30 am. We’re usually at the pier by that time, but with the check-in times pushed back, I thought that this would be a good time to leave. While we were waiting Ryan took the obligatory leaving the house picture…..

 

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Our car service has arrived. In the upper right corner of the first picture, take notice of the roofers replacing the roof of our building. I’ll have a story to tell a little later in the review…..

 

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Being that we are now leaving from Brooklyn, we didn’t have to go anywhere near Manhattan now. We left New Jersey by crossing over to Staten Island via the Outerbridge Crossing…..

 

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We then crossed Staten Island and took the Verrazano Bridge over to Brooklyn…..

 

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Here’s a view of lower Manhattan from the Verrazano Bridge…..

 

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After crossing the Verrazano we ran into a little traffic, but we pulled into the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal around 11:45 am…..

 

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To be continued…….

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Once we gave our luggage to the porter, we got into a pretty long line. They were not letting anyone into the building yet. It was explained to us that there wasn’t a priority line outside the building, but once you got inside there would be a priority line…..

 

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While we were waiting, the Carnival Sunrise appeared as she made her way to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal…..

 

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Right around noontime they opened the doors and we were allowed into the building. True to their word, there was a priority line once you entered. Check in was a breeze, and then we were directed to a pretty large priority waiting area. Once there, we finally found out where we were going, and when……

 

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We were happy with the decision that they had made. Their plan was after spending a day in Charleston, to follow hurricane Humberto to Bermuda. It was forecast to pass Bermuda a few hundred miles to the north. We would only get 8 hours in Bermuda, but it was better than nothing. I thought that this was doable, and we would all be getting a 25% future cruise credit to boot! We purchase our trip insurance from Nationwide, and they offer a payout if the ports of call are changed prior to departure. This will easily pay for our Sail & Sign bill at the end of the cruise. I just want to point out that all these decisions were made by Carnival’s Fleet Operations in Miami and not by the Master of the vessel, Captain Renda, though I’m sure he has some input.

 

So now we are waiting to board the Sunrise. I get a text from our son Ryan, and it went something like this. “The blankety blank roofers put a blankety blank hole in my blankety blank bedroom ceiling!” He included a picture and yep, there was a two foot by two foot hole in his ceiling. I don’t know how the roofers managed it, but they went through the roof, through the attic, and through his ceiling. Once he calmed down he talked to the roofer’s foreman who assured him that this would be repaired quickly. I also sent an email to the management company who oversees our development’s homeowners association. I was assured that they would be on top of the situation. That done, Patti and I could only laugh about it, as we hadn’t been away from home two hours.

 

Just before 1:30 pm, an announcement was made that all Diamond passengers could begin boarding. That’s us! So after we got our embarkation picture taken, we boarded the Carnival Sunrise for the first time…..

 

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To be continued…..

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Now that we are aboard, here are today’s Fun Times…..

 

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We boarded onto Deck 3, and our first stop as it is most times, is the Lobby Bar…..

 

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Miguel from the Fun Squad was spinning tunes in the Atrium…..

 

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Here are a couple of views of the Lobby and Atrium…..

 

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These are our first drinks of the cruise…..

 

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Patti’s mocha chocolate getaway came with a sugar straw. She was not a fan…..

 

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I am enjoying the first of many, many beers that I will consume the next thirteen days…..

 

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To be continued…..

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Patti can’t wait to start taking pictures, so off she goes. Her first stop is the Radiance Restaurant, which is the mid ship restaurant on the Sunrise. Those with assigned seating, including us, would eat our dinners here……

 

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She next stepped out onto the Deck 3 Promenade on the port side of the ship…..

 

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Here are a couple of views looking over Governor’s Island to lower Manhattan…..

 

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The Carnival Sunrise is being refueled…..

 

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Looking north towards the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges…..

 

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Here are a couple of views of Lady Liberty in the distance…..

 

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To be continued…..

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Patti made it back to the Lobby Bar, and after finishing our drinks, we decided to check out our cabin. When we got there two of our three pieces of luggage had already arrived…..

 

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Our Sail & Sign cards were also there waiting for us……

 

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We are in an inside cabin on Deck 7, fairly close to the mid ship elevators. We will have this cabin for both legs of the B2B. There are a couple of reasons why we book an inside cabin when cruising north to Canada. First, the weather being cooler, a balcony wouldn’t be used all that much. The most important reason is this. When sailing north to Canada, sailing through fog is a pretty common occurrence. When sailing through fog the ship has to blow it’s ear splitting fog horn every couple of minutes even if it’s the middle of the night. For that reason we want to be as far from the outside hull as possible. Of course, YMMV.

 

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the cabin…..

 

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Here is a view of the desk area. The flat screen television was huge. There are two electrical sockets below the mirror, plus there are USB ports between the bed lamps, which are visible in the photo above.The mini fridge is in the cabinet where the drawers used to be. We did miss the drawer space…..

 

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There are three closets, with one having a keypad type room safe…..

 

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Here is the usual Carnival bathroom. Liked the colors though….

 

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There is a digital thermostat to control room temperature which worked pretty well, and a card slot for the room lights. We just put in an old card and left it there for the duration.

 

To be continued…..

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55 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

Day # 1 -  9/16/19 – Embarkation Day!!

 

We are up early to finish our packing and wait for the car service to arrive. I had watched the Carnival Sunrise come back to New York on the harbor and port webcams. As of now, we still didn’t know where our cruise would be going. One thing for sure is that we wouldn’t be going to Bermuda, as hurricane Humberto was forecast to arrive there the same time we were supposed to. Carnival would only say that they were still going over their options, and that we would find out when we got to the pier. We are thinking that we are going north to Canada for sure.

 

Before I packed my laptop in my carry-on bag, I took one more look on the marine traffic map to see if the Sunrise had left the Manhattan pier to begin her short journey over to Brooklyn.  When I put the cursor over the ship, it said that the destination for the Sunrise was Charleston, Charleston? I said “Patti, we’re going to Charleston!” That was a shock as Charleston wasn’t even on our radar. Being that this was a six day cruise from New York, other than going north to Canada, it doesn’t leave many options to satisfy the Jones Act by stopping at a foreign port. I could see maybe a two day run down to Nassau and then two days back. But stopping at Charleston would mean maybe a quick humanitarian run to Freeport then back to New York. I guess we’ll find out at the pier.

 

 

What cruise tracker do you use? I have one but I don't think it tells me updated destinations. 

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28 minutes ago, VolzCruiser said:

 

What cruise tracker do you use? I have one but I don't think it tells me updated destinations. 

 

I use MarineTraffic.com If you hover your cursor over any ship it will show you it's destination. :classic_cool:

 

25 minutes ago, CruisinMama2003 said:

Yay!! I've been waiting for this review 😁 Ugh I'm so sorry you got the "cruise crud", BUT I'm glad you are feeling better 👍

 

Thanks! Not feeling 100% yet but getting there. I'll be taking a nap after one more post. :classic_smile: Glad to have you aboard again.

 

22 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

You're off to a great start.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

 

Thanks for reading. Glad to have you with us! :classic_cool:

 

 

15 minutes ago, ABQrobin said:

yeah... another awesome cruise report....  more more more!

 

Thanks for coming on board once again. Much, much more to come! :classic_smile:

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We were feeling hungry so we decided to head to the pasta bar at Cucina del Capitano. We jumped on an elevator and went up to Deck 10. We got off the elevator then proceeded to almost walk into the sliding glass doors that lead out to the open deck. I remembered that you have to push a button to open these doors now since they are no longer motion activated. Who’s bright idea was that? Once outside we said hello to DJ Saxy who was spinning tunes for the Lido Pool area. We’ve seen her around before…..

 

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Here’s a look over at the Waterworks…..

 

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We passed by Guy’s Pig & Anchor. It was not busy at all, in fact we never saw it busy. Patti and I never did try it during our cruises. It was open noon until 2:30 on embarkation and sea days…..

 

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We walked a little further aft and entered the doors for Cucina del Capitano. It is open as a pasta bar daily from noon until 2:30. It was not busy at all and we were seated quickly…..

 

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Here is the menu card. Fill it out, hand it to your waitress, and in 15 minutes your order is delivered to your table…..

 

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We both had Caesar salad and bread…..

 

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Patti had her pasta with Alfredo sauce……

 

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I had mine with the meat sauce…..

 

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To be continued…….

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1 hour ago, Jamman54 said:

We were feeling hungry so we decided to head to the pasta bar at Cucina del Capitano. We jumped on an elevator and went up to Deck 10. We got off the elevator then proceeded to almost walk into the sliding glass doors that lead out to the open deck. I remembered that you have to push a button to open these doors now since they are no longer motion activated. Who’s bright idea was that? Once outside we said hello to DJ Saxy who was spinning tunes for the Lido Pool area. We’ve seen her around before…..

 

 

We passed by Guy’s Pig & Anchor. It was not busy at all, in fact we never saw it busy. Patti and I never did try it during our cruises. It was open noon until 2:30 on embarkation and sea days…..

 

Cucina, snipped the picture:

Here is the menu card. Fill it out, hand it to your waitress, and in 15 minutes your order is delivered to your table…..

 

 

 

I deleted a bunch from your post for brevity, hope it makes sense:

 

1st - Glad you are feeling better.  It was a pleasure to meet you and Patty on the 1st leg of the cruise 🙂 

 

I agree about the push button doors being a nuisance.  I got used to them by mid week, but they were awkward and not consistent - some places did seem to be motion activated and the button wasn't always at the same place.  I heard several complaints about the doors.

 

DJ Saxy had a great energy!  We weren't around her much but when we were she seemed to keep the crowd entertained.

 

We had P&A for our first meal.  It was ok but I personally don't think you missed much.  In my research I somehow missed that Cucina was full service during lunch.  I entered through a back door near P&A and saw the salads and bread and helped myself to bread after verifying types with the staff - now it makes sense why they seemed a little confused that I was there and that the breads weren't labeled 😮 I never made it back to try the pasta, but we also were trying to keep lower carb (and I'm not a fan of Caesar dressing).  We prefer dining al fresco when possible, but it did seem like a nice escape for a more full service meal.

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I love Cucina for lunch.  Looking forward to it!

 

I thought the Anytime dining was always in the midship MDR.  I don't typically do Anytime but didn't want early (to interfere with Bermuda day) or late (so I could eat sometime in between set dining) and not be too stuffed to head over to the Frog and Onion for a pint after dinner. 😀

 

I see a Welcome Aboard Happy Hour.  I've asked about this on Sunshine, so hoping we'll have it, too.

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The inside cabin tip about the foghorn on a CA/NE cruise was one of the best tips I picked up from your last Ca/Ne  review. Sure enough we met so many people in the Sunshine that hated hearing her fog horn when trying to sleep while we were doing great in our inside. Our CA/NE next year we have an inside again to avoid the dreaded horn. 

 

Looking forward to your second leg review as we were on board the first leg with you. 

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5 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

We were feeling hungry so we decided to head to the pasta bar at Cucina del Capitano. We jumped on an elevator and went up to Deck 10. We got off the elevator then proceeded to almost walk into the sliding glass doors that lead out to the open deck. I remembered that you have to push a button to open these doors now since they are no longer motion activated. Who’s bright idea was that?

I hated the sliding door buttons. We like to get tables either midships Lido near Guy's or aft, near pizza or the seafood line. If my hands were full I had to use my hip to push the button. Looked like I was doing a dance.😀

 

I always love your reviews, Jeff. Looking forward to the next 12 days.🙂

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Hi all!

 

Jeff ~ glad to catch your review near the beginning but am going to have a hard time following as I'm flying to Rome tomorrow to take a NCL 11 day cruise. Should I cancel, lol?!

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

Looking forward to catching up later in the month.

 

~ Jo ~ 😊

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We are happy to hear you are feeling better and have started the review.  I remember the foghorn on the Sunshine, however, didn’t think to price inside cabins when looking at the Sunrise.  Will not forget now!  Hope your roof was repaired quickly.

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