jam19872016

Thanks for your review, I always enjoy reading them. I'll be on the Sunshine in September, so your last 2 reviews have been particularly informative, in addition to entertaining.

You're welcome glad to have you along. Have a great trip on the Sunshine! It is a fantastic ship and I can't to sail on her again someday. Happy cruising.

Thanks for the wonderful review, menus and Fun times

 

 

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You're welcome. It was my pleasure. Thanks for reading.

Summary:

Dining:

The Sunshine has a very large variety of dining options, more than any ship other than Vista. The buffet was not good which is normal for Carnival. The Blue Iguana was the go to spot this week for breakfast and lunch. The burrito's were good as always, but it was the friendly service that put it over the top. Guy's was good as well. I found the pasta bar to be ok but nothing special.

We ate in the dining room three out of five nights. The service was so so. There were not really any instances of "bad" service but there is a lot of room for improvement. It is amazing the difference on the same ship in just a two month span of time. The service in the dining room for brunch, I would qualify as bad. The food at both venues were overall very good.

I was also uncomfortable with the Maître D' during the final showtime asking everyone to give the MDR a 10 on the guest surveys. He did this last time as well and I have seen him make the same speech on videos on YouTube. It is a standard routine. I don't recall this on any other ship, but maybe I just never paid attention to it before. Either way I think it is dishonest and I purposely dinged him a few points on the survey to try and offset the automatic 10's I am sure some polite people gave him simply because he asked. He was entertaining though, and can't say I have ever noticed the Maître D' before but he was always fun at showtime.

I tried two of the specialty restaurants. Jiji's Asian Kitchen and Bonsai Sushi.

Jiji's had wonderful food and the meal alone is worth the up charge. The servers were very friendly however there were some mix ups with the orders. The atmosphere in it's current location is weird though. I don't think that would be a problem on the Vista where it is in its own area. Also I did not care for the weird ordering style. I would eat there again just for the food, it was fantastic.

Bonsai was also a hit. Unlike most of the meal's on board, it was not heavy. Heavy is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was nice to leave dinner full without that usual "stomach on the ground" feeling most cruise dinners give you. The service was great, atmosphere was great, the food was good, and I enjoyed learning how to use chopsticks. Another place I would love to go back to again and again.

There is no shortage of variety of foods on the Sunshine!

Public Spaces and Cabin:

The Sunshine is a beautiful ship. I hate to use the word "modern" because what does that even mean? It is the best way I can describe it though. The ship did indeed look very modern. If you are used to the bright spaces and tacky artwork, this ship may seem bland and I do prefer the Farcus look but this ship was very gorgeous none the less. On my first trip on her, I was specifically looking for wear and tear and falling apart walls because of the bad reviews. I saw none. Everything was well maintained and there were no leaking ceilings.

Our room was 6207 located in a middle hallway one deck above the casino. If you are sensitive to smoke, do not book this room. It was not overwhelming or even noticeable, but there was a faint odor of smoke in the room coming no doubt from its close location to the casino. If you don't mind that, this room is perfect. It is shaped differently than most rooms and it is larger than the standard size cabin. We will try and book these L-shaped cabins in the future whenever we are on a ship that has them.

Entertainment:

It is hard to say for sure, but it did seem like there was a small shortage of planned activities on this sailing. It just seemed like there was more white space than usual on the page listing the daily activities. We pretty much entertained ourselves in the casino.

Emma was our CD and she was wonderful in a quaint and unobtrusive way. I loved her British accent and never got tired of her catchphrase "Hello Lovelies". She was not overly energetic or "everywhere at once" but I will take charming and not on the PA every 5 minutes over the former any day.

The lounges on this ship have some issues which has been written about in probably every review of the Sunshine. Nothing they can do about it now, but it is lousy that Carnival continues to build their ships with the poor layout in the Liquid Lounge.

The Seaside Theater was out of service for the duration of the cruise. I would imagine this has been fixed as I have not seen any mention of it except for people on the same sailing as me. Movies were played in indoor lounges whenever they were not being used for other activities.

As I mentioned the Casino was my main form of entertainment. No doubt, there are some major cutbacks being made at the casino department shore side. The casino on board is still a wonderful group of people. Everyone was friendly and made this a fun week and I loved seeing crew I have met on previous sailings. The hosts were wonderful and at the end of the week I was presented with a certificate for a reduced rate on select sailings.

This would have been quite a shock had I not known the requirements for a comped cruise had been raised. This is a huge cutback and it feels like a slap in the face at first glance. Really when I compare Carnival's casino program to the rest of the industry, they still have a better program at least for me. On Royal I would have received a $300 rebate on my next cruise. NCL does not offer truly free sailings, there is always a $200pp admin fee. My rebate from carnival ended up being $962. Still the best bang for my buck, though if I was a truly high roller, I would be upset when Carnival offered me a free inside, and RCL would have offered me a free balcony. I do like that Royal is transparent, I can say I would have earned a $300 rebate, whereas with Carnival and NCL, there is no telling what you will earn based on your play until after you play and contact the casino department. It is truly a gamble.

Service:

This is a frustrating one. Frustrating because just two months ago I rated the Sunshine crew the best yet for service. Now they have gone downhill. Not really bad overall, but a very noticeable decline over the level of service provided just two short months ago. What can cause such a change? High crew turnover since then? I don't know but it was weird.

This was my first experience with once a day cleaning service. It was presented as an option, and as long as it is an option I guess I am okay with it. Although, if we all choose twice a day, there is just simply no way the stewards will be able to do it. I will say I think he did the best he could under the circumstances but we almost never saw him, unless we looked down the hall then we could see him far away - I wonder how many rooms he had. Really, the steward is one of the members of the crew we have the most contact with and to create such an impersonal experience really does change the dynamics of the whole cruise experience - as silly as that may sound. Now he is just some guy who cleans my room when I'm away.

We tried it and it did not work at all. We will request twice a day service in the future. I will try once a day when I travel solo and I think that will be fine for just me. He did his job and so his tips were left in place (really he would have to suck for us to remove them) but we did not tip extra like we normally do. He did his job, nothing more, even though that was not his fault.

Other:

In addition to providing life jackets at the pool, they now have the crew at the towel hut "policing" the pool. Whenever the kids got a bit too rowdy, he would blow a whistle. This is a nice thought, but for liability purposes I think they are asking for trouble. Towel hut guy (or gal) is not a lifeguard and cannot be expected to be keeping a full eye on the pool especially since he cannot even see the pool from the hut. Either a proper lifeguard, or no lifeguard. Just my opinion.

I was approached in the casino one night by someone who recognized me from my previous review. Hello Mommabear2Five! Thanks for saying hi, it is so cool to be recognized and it makes me feel like a celeberty lol.

Overall:

I had a great time on the Sunshine again. There were a lot of negative things brought up in my review. This is Cruise CRITIC not Cruise everything is perfect all the time. Those negatives in no way stopped me from having a good time and in no way should you not book the Sunshine. It is a great ship with a great crew and I had a blast. I hope that me bringing up things that I felt could be improved on will not be taken as a negative review because that is not my intention and I look forward to one day sailing on her again.

Looking ahead:

Next up for me is a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Splendor on April 30. This will be my first solo cruise, and my first premiere cruise. I don't see many (any) reviews detailing the casino activities that go on during a premier so I plan to write one for that and am looking forward to that adventure. I hope you will all join me then.

Debarkation:

We were up just before 8 and out the door in near record time. We still are "those people" that can't follow directions. We are doing self assist and are supposed to meet in the Limelight Lounge at an ungodly hour. We didn't do that and instead talked to a member of the crew who talked to someone who gave us permission to cut the line since FTTF had already lined up. I always feel bad about doing things like this and wouldn't you know it, the person we ended up cutting - was a little old lady in a wheelchair. :o.

The line at customs was pretty long and there were porters offering to take your bags and lead you to the front of the line. They work for tips and it was a pretty nice shortcut. It wasn't really necessary. The line was long but it moved very very quickly and before we knew it, we were back to the real world again.

M rode with me on my shuttle so we could have breakfast together before we parted ways. We stopped at a place called Grills located right near the terminal in the same area as Fishlips that I see on many people's reviews.

I'll admit I was a little skeptical about this place. Being right on the water at a cruise terminal, it just screamed "TOURIST TRAP" to me. But it was not bad. The food was reasonably priced, and although not the best breakfast I've ever had, it was still very good. The service was outstanding, I loved our server she was a treat.

Seafood omelette with hash browns and a biscuit.

Our view, Majesty of the Seas.

After breakfast I dropped M off to pick up her car and I was on my way home.

After dinner it was you guessed it, casino time :D. We enjoying our final hours getting some final playing time in. M stayed about even for the day and I lost, but a comfortable amount. I played until I was down a set amount and then walked away. Still ended up losing my shirt, but I did walk away with a certificate for a reduced price sailing. Not as nice as a free cruise, but I knew coming in that I would not qualify for one of those.

I wanted to use my drink coupon at alchemy but they were already closed. Bummer. I wanted to try something different so I looked through the bar menu at the casino but didn't really see anything that seemed appealing. I tried to remember some drinks I've read about before and asked the bartender which was better, the choclatini or the tiramisu martini. He said tiramisu hands down so I ordered it. He was right, very very good and if sweet drinks are something you are into, be sure to try one of these they are very good.

I don't think I mentioned it before, but my coupon never did arrive in my room. I had to go down to guest services and have it reprinted. They were very helpful and allowed me to grab M's for her while I was there. I also got our pins. The steward delivered our water, although it is now a different brand (Niagra I believe) than the room service water (Carnival) that we drank while waiting for our free water. We explained what happened and the steward said there would be no charge for the water we drank. He kept his word. I really hope this trend of not getting my loyalty perks without asking is reversed soon.

Our final towel animal of the week, also M's favorite.

We winded down with some room service while I enjoyed my martini and went to bed around 2, sad that another trip was over.

We had a short wait again to be seated (5 minutes or so) so while we were waiting I went back to the room because we had forgotten our Gold VIFP drink coupons in the room. When I returned M had already been seated so the hostess took me to my table. We ended up not using the coupon at dinner. They were in the middle of showtime, tonight being the last night they were singing "Leaving On A Fun Ship". I enjoy the performances but this was bad timing to be coming in for dinner, it took a while to be served.

For my started I had the steamed mussels.

It was good, but three of my mussels were just shells, what a tease :p.

For my entree I had the salmon fillet and the tiger shrimp creole.

I get the salmon at least once a cruise, and it is is always a consistent favorite. The shrimp creole was good, but not as hot as it should have been.

Dessert menu.

For dessert I ordered the WCMC with two ice creams and the cherry pie.

What I received was the WCMC with one ice cream, and no cherry pie. M let me finish hers and I didn't really miss anything. The WCMC was PERFECT. I cannot imagine it tasting any better than it did tonight! No consistency issues with the WCMC this cruise, I wish I had ordered it more. Yum!

Overall the food was good. There were some small issues I noted, however. My food could have been a little warmer (it was not cold though) and my dessert order was wrong. About a 90 minute dinner service which is not terrible, but not that great either. Also, if there is a wait to be seated, you would think table turnaround would be a priority. The table next to us finished about five minutes after we arrived. That table was never cleared for the remainder of our time there (another 90 minutes or so). That is odd and it may not seem like a big deal but I think it definitely speaks to a critical breakdown in the dining room processes. It wasn't the most appealing thing to stare at all night either.

Not a lot going on for us this afternoon. Today was the slot tournament. M and I both joined. She came close to qualifying. I did lousy. Like probably the worse score of the whole tournament lousy (I was in last place in my round - by a lot). I did not even bother to buy in again.

I was continuing to do bad in the casino, M was doing better. She never did make any of her money back but she was able to play quite a bit today without losing. We mostly just hung out today. Played some games in the Library. I finally found a game I am pretty good at (Parcheesi lol) and managed to win almost every game we played.

We had lunch at the pasta bar again today. We had some more food mishaps. Well M did. They messed up her order. They redid it and messed it up again. Finally they got it right and the lady said but this is what we gave you the first time, so why did you refuse your first order. Except it was not, maybe she was confused and thought it was, but should you really argue with the guest about it?

More casino time, then it was time for dinner. I didn't realize until I wrote this review, that pretty much all I did was eat and gamble all week. O well, that is the beauty of a cruise vacation right?

Tonight's menu.

Day 5: Fun Farewell Day At Sea

Finally a sea day! I love sea days and I must say that only having one sea day was just not my style. We were still up pretty early this morning I guess as a result of a pretty early to bed (for us). It was around 9 and as this was the only sea day, the Sea Day Brunch was a must do for me.

Sea Day Brunch and I have had an on again off again relationship. The food has been my favorite meal before and other times it has just plain sucked. The service has almost always been bad. Today would be no different.

I am not going to go into a great amount of detail. I still enjoyed myself and had a good meal. But the service was bad. It was like we were in the Carnival break room instead of an MDR waiting to be served. I can't say that I have seen anything like it before. Usually when the service is slow it is because the staff is spread too thin. Not so this morning. There were multiple requests and re-requests for items and it was just a wee bit frustrating - and slow. The food was good though.

I ordered chocolate chip pancakes and mac-n-cheese with bacon.

Both were good, but maybe not good items to eat at the same time lol.

For dessert I had the caramelized cheesecake.

Very good!

A great meal but lousy service. I highly recommend going to brunch, but do so with patience and a couple hours to spare. I have always wondered why the service is almost always off for brunch even when it is fine at dinner?

Fun Times Day 4:

Day 5 Fun Times

I will be back tomorrow for the conclusion of my review. Thank you all for reading along so far.

Enjoying your review and your nice photos!

Glad you're enjoying it. Thanks for following!

Really enjoying your review! I'm envious of your ability to drive to the ports in FLA. I wouldn't mind a 5 day cruise, but with airfare I try to take longer cruises to justify the expense of flying. Actually it would probably be dangerous to my check book if I lived in FL.!?!

Glad your enjoying, thanks for reading along!

I'm very lucky to live in Florida. The check book cries every time I pull up the Carnival website. I am very conscious of my spending when I'm not cruising though so that I can afford to cruise often. Priorities and all lol.

After dinner it was back to the casino. I had been doing pretty good up to this point and was still about even for the trip. Unfortunately it was all downhill from here. Now I have heard many people say that the casino lets you win and then takes it all back at the end of the cruise. I don't think that is true but that is not usually the case for me anyway. I tend to lose and lose and lose and then do okay at the end of the trip. I like this way much better. I got so much more enjoyment out of the casino by being able to play instead of being down the whole trip. I don't go to make money, I go to have fun. And if they are letting me win, this is a smart strategy because when I make money on the last day I cash out and run for the nearest exit! At least this way they got it all back (and then some)

I rounded out the night in the casino and made my way to Lido around 12 for a late night snack. M ordered room service. Way too much room service and she was fast asleep before it arrived. This concludes day 4.

Except for this cute towel animal.

Tonight we ate at Bonsai Sushi for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised that M wanted to eat here. I wanted to try this place but did not even bother suggesting it as sushi is way to adventurous for M's appetite. I was just going to squeeze it in on my own sometime. But M actually was the one who said she wanted to try it as long as she could find something that was cooked. She confirmed prior to this that they do serve cooked items so off we went to try Bonsai.

The full menu can be found at the link below:

Bonsai Sushi

They brought out some Edamame to snack on while we waited on our order.

For my starter I had the wagyu kakuni.

This was fantastic!

For my entree I had the spicy tuna roll.

Another winner!

For desert I had the yuzu custard.

This was ok. It wasn't the item itself, I am just not big on custard. It wasn't bad but it wasn't really my thing. Next time I will try the cupcakes.

They even have their own dinner show.

They sang a funky Japaneese song. I don't remember how it went but it was pretty funny.

I had a wonderful time at Bonsai. The food was amazing. The service was by far the best on the ship all week. Everyone was friendly and each order was correct and timely. I also got to try my hand at using chopsticks again. The waitress was very helpful. I have never been able to use them but with her help I have finally mastered it. Well maybe not mastered, I held them a bit awkwardly and my hand was sore and I would think sushi is probably an entry course on chopsticks, but I was still impressed with myself :D. Great time tonight!

M was a little less impressed with her food. This place is not really for picky eaters. She ordered the tempura roll and spit it back out. Because of the seaweed. I tried one and loved it, nothing wrong with the food just not to her appetite. She loved her noodle salad though and said she would come back again just for the salad.

I did not eat in the MDR again tonight. I did take some pictures of the menu for those interested.

So as you may know if you have been reading my reviews, this is my third five day cruise in a row. You do start to notice patterns emerging and things you didn't used to expect, you start to expect.

I had come to realize that on day 4, the casino sends out plates of cookies as a thank you to their loyal players. So upon returning to the cabin I was excited to see the plate with the room service lid on top. I got my camera out and told M not to mess with it till I could get a picture. She gave me a look and said really. I readied my camera and lifted the lid to find....her leftover dinner from last night. :o:eek:

Well I sure felt stupid. M knew what it was but I had forgotten all about it and just assumed they were cookies because I was expecting cookies. Well lesson learned, right?

While M was getting cleaned up for the evening a knock on the door came. It was room service and they had two trays of cookies sent compliments of the casino. I reached for them but he said just one was for this room and handed me the card that came with it. Guess M did not get any since she has not been doing a lot in the casino this time. M was having a good laugh that I thought her leftover plate was cookies for me so I couldn't wait to rub this in her face. I laughed "HA" and showed her the card....with her name on it. :eek::eek::eek:

WTH no cookies! I felt real stupid now to the point that I was a little miffed they sent her cookies and not me.

Knock knock knock.

Room service guy again, with a sheepish look on his face. Sorry sir, these are for you too.

I love these cookies! M does not eat sweets and there is so much food that I sadly have had to let most of these go to waste (or let my mom eat them) but this time I packed them in the extra Laundry bag that carnival provides and enjoyed them at home. That may technically be violating a customs law. So don't tell them OK.

We started making our way back and we found a quiet spot to leave our bags and hopped in the water. It was pretty cold at first. Another degree cooler and it would probably be too cold but it was just cool enough that we could bear it and after a few minutes we adjusted and it felt great.

We enjoyed our semi-private beach for about a half hour and then made our way back. We were getting a little tired and wanted to walk up on the road instead of on the beach. We found a horse trail and thought it would be a good idea to follow it back up to the road. WRONG. This was a seemingly never ending constantly winding almost all uphill dirt path that just led right back down to the beach.

We stayed on the beach until we saw a path we knew led up to the road so we could walk on pavement. We still had a ways to go and why is it always easier to walk a long distance away but the trip back is so brutal. We were famished at this point and ready for some BBQ. Oops, they were no longer serving it.

We made our way back to the ship and the line was pretty long at this point. I hate lines and try to avoid them whenever possible. Hence the FTTF. Now I understand that FTTF does not include priority tendering on the way back and understand why the logistics of it would not work at most tender ports. However, there is already a shortcut back on the tender that is used by the crew. They use the same tenders we do they just are able to bypass the line. I would imagine the security procedures are a little different but how hard would it be to modify to allow FTTF and VIFP to skip the line? Something for Carnival to consider. No biggie, the line moved fairly quickly and we were on our way back to the ship.

It was a great day in port for me, hands down the best port of the trip. I will admit I went in pretty skeptical. I went in expecting something along the lines of Grand Turk. Pretty, but not really my thing. I was pleasantly surprised. HMC is so much more than just pretty. It is downright breathtaking and there was so much to explore, best of all it could be explored without purchasing an excursion. I cannot wait to come back here.

Back on board I made a trip to Guy's for a burger. I fell in love with Guy's the first time I tried it on the Breeze in 2014. I would not get to try them again for a year and half and I fell in love again. Since then they have been missing the mark for me. Part of the problem I think is eating them when I am not really hungry. Today was the perfect time to try it again because I was starving.

They were pretty good. Not as good as I remember them once being but still very good. This is good because craving them and eating them constantly even if just for a week is soooooooooo bad for me. I think my body has just reached a point where it can reject something so insanely bad for me. Thank goodness, I am by no means a healthy eater but those burgers are insane. Insanely good. Ooops I am dreaming about them again now, good thing there are none anywhere near me right now :).

After we hung out for a bit enjoying our drinks we decided to head down to the beach. We are not big on being in the middle of the crowd we wanted a more relaxing spot where we could not hear the music so we walked out a little ways in search of some solitude.

The Sunshine further down the beach.

There are many quiet places along the beach once you get down a little ways however we were feeling adventurous and decided to walk all the way down to the end of the beach. We were in an exploring mood today :D. We covered quite a long strech of beach.

The view looking back.

We still had a ways to go when we got to this.

You can't tell what the sign says but it said "Warning: Continuing beyond this point is dangerous and prohibited"

So we did not continue.

Ok that is a lie. We kept going and this was a blast for me. It was very rocky and required some climbing and maneuvering. We did not make it anywhere near the end of the beach like we had planned on though. This was dangerous but keep in mind I am by no means athletic and M was barefoot so while not the safest or smartest thing we have ever done, the sign was mostly for liability reasons and the hardest part was actually climbing around the rock wall in the picture.

I went a little further than M because it got a little too hard to do barefoot and her flip flops were wet and slippery. I probably could have gone further but being by myself upped the ante if I were to slip and fall. The next time we are in HMC we will pack some good hiking shoes and we will make it to the end of the beach.

There were others who had the same idea as us. We were the only ones back here when we first passed the forbidden sign, but others did join us later including one group who said they go all the way to the end each time they come here so at least I know it can be done. They are in much better shape than me so I might still not make it all the way, but I sure can't wait to try once I'm better equipped.

Getting off the tender was slowed down by photographers. This is the first time I have ever encountered being "forced" to take a photo. It was a single file line with a guy at the end of the line dropping a sign in front of you that said "Half Moon Cay". Usually you can just walk around and say no thank you. That was not the case. A polite no thank you still did not do the trick so we put on our best fake smile so we could move along.

Today's plan was a beach day. We were unsure if the weather was going to cooperate as it did seem like it was going to rain and we were also worried that the water may be too cold as it was cool out. Not cold, but certainly cool.

We walked around for a while following the various bike trails and pretty much did a self-guided tour around the island. We came up to an area where people were doing a sting ray encounter.

It was very fun to see them this close! That is probably as close as I want to get though, I don't think I want to be in the water with them. I remember petting them at some theme park as a kid and it was really cool but they were small not like these massive things.

We continued our walking tour of the island and explored many different areas before making our way back toward the bar for some drinks. I was a little surprised by the price of the drinks. I just assumed they would be the same price as on the ship. Wrong. An $8 drink on the ship costed $10 on Half Moon Cay. Lesson learned and that would be the only drinks we ordered today. (M did get one more drink while we were waiting in line to get on board).

We enjoyed our drinks on the top deck of the bar shaped like a pirate ship and I took some photos of the ship and the beach.

Carnival Sunshine and an angry looking sky.

The beach.

Day 4: Half Moon Cay

After an early night to bed we were up pretty early this morning, just prior to our 8 am arrival at Half Moon Cay. This was my first time making it to their private island. I was a bit unsure about how much I would care for HMC simply because private islands and cruise ship operated/funded ports in general do not appeal to me the least bit. I was simply amazed at how beautiful this island was and can say that I agree 100% with the great reviews this island consistently receives.

We stopped at the Blue Iguana for breakfast again. This became our go to spot, the food was good and one of the crew working there was super friendly. I am terrible with names and forgot his name, I really wanted to compliment him on the post cruise survey but I have no idea what his name was.

Today the towel animals had taken over the Lido!

We don't normally get off the ship early enough for FTTF to help us in tender ports. We were surprised that after two hours they were still calling ticket numbers so we were happy to have FTTF to fall back on. We headed down to the Liquid Lounge right as they were getting ready to escort another group down. Perfect timing.

The water here was gorgeous and the weather was perfect. It was overcast, so if you worship the sun you probably would disagree with me, but living in the sunshine state I appreciate a break from the sun. The ride over on the tender was pretty quick and there was far more excitement from the other passengers than I had seen all week.

Enjoying your review. We sail on Sunshine in 3 weeks. I asked you about the DOU card in your last review and you gave some good information. But I am still curious how this works...you need 1000 points on this 5 day cruise and I have read that every $2.50 you put through a machine is one point. So did you put $2500 in the machines in one day? I am just trying to figure out if this is really a high roller thing.

I play mostly video poker, which is $5 for one point (but a better payback rate than most slots). But to keep things simple. let's just use the $2.50 for one point scenario. I did put $2,500 in the machines, but that was not all my money. In fact because I was doing good, I had not spent any of my own money when I got the card.

So if I play $5 and win $10 I have earned 2 points. If I play that $10 back into the machine, that is another 4 points. Technically I have now played $15 through the machine, but I have only spent $5. More times than not, I have been down more money than the cost of Cheers when I have earned the DOU. I have simply gotten lucky on my last two trips.

You do not necessarily have to be a high roller, but you will need luck on your side, and the stamina (and bankroll) to keep playing if you are not winning. Don't play just to earn the card, play what you are comfortable playing with.

If you do earn it, be sure to tip your server and they will hover when they see your drink start to run low :D Otherwise, expect to have a card that is useless when it is busy (which it almost always will be).

Good luck and have fun on your cruise.

I guess it's a matter of taste/likes. Although there are a few Atriums that are memorable, most I do not even remember.

 

The dreamscape is awesome. I stood there gazing at it for long periods of time. There is an anticipation of new scenes changing each day.

It's not the actual design of the atrium for me so much as the openness of the area. I would not hesitate to book a trip on the Vista if the price were right though and I would love to see the dreamscape in person as I don't think pictures and videos can really capture its beauty.

Anybody? Bueller? ;)

It's Bueller's day off :) But I do have the Fun Times for this itinerary. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2467118&highlight=sunshine the first three days are posted on page 3 of my review. The final two days will be posted as I get to that point in my review. Not the best quality but still readable if you stare at it lol. Have a great trip on the Sunshine!

Fun Times Day 2:

Fun Times Day 3:

I will be back tomorrow to continue on with the review.

I got the fun times scanned this time. A little late, but better late than never. It's not as clear as I have seen others post, but it's the best I can do with the tools I have :D I'll go ahead and post them for the days that I have already reviewed.

Fun Times Day 1:

I did look at the Horizon. We primarily like to cruise in the winter/spring up to early May. We like to get away from the NJ winters/colder weather and have a summer camp in NY which we open up around Memorial Day. So the dates aren't good for us, PLUS a new ship is always over priced. PLUS we really don't want to go on any "big ships." And I have seen pictures of sister ship Vista and tho she is pretty, we are really not into the modern....and I am an atrium gal and want to sit in the atrium and watch the elevators and look ALL THE WAY UP!!! :cool: So I don't think Horizon will be a good fit for us. But thanks for the heads up anyway! ;)

I love the open atrium that I am used to also. Seems a shame to only have it go a few decks up. I bet the dreamscape is pretty in person, but don't think it is an even trade.