SugarStar00
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We disembarked in San Juan and just like in March, it was a very slow and painful process. We waited a little while to let the crowds thin out but that plan didn't work. It took over an hour to get from the gangway to the taxi stand on the other side of customs. The terminal was completely packed, they had the low numbered zoned luggage at the front of the terminal which you had to then lug it all the way to the back of the terminal to get in customs line. Several people I spoke to later said their luggage wasn't even in the correct zone area they had to go hunting for their bags! Once we got outside I was frustrated, we tried to find a place that would hold our bags for a bit while we got some lunch and walked around old San Juan before our flight but we had no luck. It was super hot and toting your luggage across cobble stone streets isn't fun. Since we have spent plenty of time in San Juan in the past and I was getting cranky, we hunted down a cab ( which wasn't as easy as you'd expect) and just went to the airport.
Flight home was on jet blue and went smoothly.
Internet pricing, I didn't purchase any of these but I did download the carnival hub app and paid $5 for the chat plan. I used it once or twice to contact another passenger.
So I guess this review wasn't that brief, but thanks for the encouragement and I hope a lot more people find some useful information or atleast enjoyed the pictures. Here's a few more Photos I have left over to share. Questions or requests for more pics I might have are welcomed.
St.Croix
Thanks for reading!!!
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The last day we just happened to pass through the lido deck on our way to breakfast which was a lucky break because it was towel animal takeover day! I guess I'm a kid at heart because I'm one of those people who look forward to the evening towel friend, so this was fantastic.
First time we've seen this little guy, not sure what he is
Frog was one of my favorites too
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Very rocky bottom
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St. Croix - This was our last port stop and our first time here. I wanted to visit the Cruzan Rum distillery and then go to the beach, but we were so tired that we slept in a bit and skipped the rum factory. We took a cab to Rainbow Beach, about a mile or so down the road. You could walk, and some people I knew did, but it was only $6 round trip for a cab so we did that. This port is pretty organized, you go to a cashier and buy a ticket for the taxi so you have it for your return trip and don't have to pay again, plus there's no drivers trying to cheat you on the set prices. The beach was very pretty, but very expensive, we paid $30 for two lounge chairs and an umbrella. I wanted to rent a float for the day but it was $10, I would have paid no more than $5. The water was pretty but VERY rocky. It was extremely difficult to get in and out of the water, it was kind of funny to watch people, we all had a different method by the end of the day. We joined our fb group at the restaurant/bar around lunch time, where some of them were doing rainbow shots! I wish I had tried but just wasn't feeling it that day.I had a couple of “sand pails” of a very good rum punch made with 7 cruzan rums, made for a great afternoon nap for sure! We also ate lunch here, I had shrimp tacos and they were great. I really enjoyed the bar and food,the beach was so-so and very expensive, I’d probably try a different beach if we were to ever go back to St. Croix.
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Lunch is served
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Maybe you see a rock, or if you had the rum punch you might see a frog!
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Antigua- This was a new stop for us, we had originally planned on taking a cab to a beach here, but since we missed out on our catamaran tour in Tortola, we decided to sign up for a catamaran tour through Carnival. It was pricey, but not much more than what we were going to pay in Tortola. I was a little disenchanted when I realized how many people were going on this tour, I remembered why I hated cruise ship tours and was so mad at myself. Then they showed us to our boat, The Excellence. It was enormous, it didn't even look like a catamaran. It had two levels and an inside area. The top was full by the time we got board so we just took a seat along the outside railing. I’m so glad I did because this was a great spot. We flew through the water and picked up a few people from a resort, then headed out to sea! We had about an hour ride to the island where we had some beach time. The ride was like a waterpark ride and was so fun. About 30min in they walked around and told us to secure our things and offered to store them for us, that the water was going to get rough. I was thinking, yea sure nothing we can’t handle,this is a huge boat. Sure enough, the waves were huge and splashing up and soaking us from the side, and occasionally it would splash through the trampolines in front and the hopping of the ship gave me butterflies in my stomach reminded me of a water park ride, exhilarating, exciting and just plain awesome! We stopped at a secluded beach and put our towels in the sand. We found a little shade under some brush, but it's hard to come by. A group of people did a guided snorkel tour which was s included but we just relaxed on the beach. The tour guides came onto the beach with trays of drinks and served rum punch, captains punch, beer and water. After a little bit they called us back on board and served a fantastic local lunch, my second favorite meal on the cruise! We had a little more beach time then it was time to load up and head back. I got my same seat hoping for another thrilling ride back, but I guess we continued circling the rest of the way around the island and it never got quite as rough. They showed us lots of the sites, and we drove through what I believe was nelson's dockyard, a place where all the huge yachts were docked. Amazing. They kept coming around with the drinks the entire ride, and had us doing to the conga and some line dancing at the end! The tour operators were some younger gentlemen and they were hilarious, gracious and fun. It was an amazing and fun day, I’m so very glad we decided to do it!
The Excellence
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Huge splashes!
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Speeding along
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St.Lucia- This was our second stop here, last time we hiked one of the Pitons (I like a good adventure), this time we decided to do something more relaxing. I didn't want to do another van tour and I read that getting to the beaches from the port can be expensive and take a long time, so we joined another FB group on a tour with Herod. It was a speedboat tour around the island and took us to Jalousie beach for a few hours where they served us an amazingly delicious local lunch. It was the absolute best meal we had all week. They had rum punch, beer and water for us as well. It was a very pretty location but the usable beach area was very small, and again the chairs were in very bad shape, and many other tours stopped here as well.Thank goodness our guys got us there early and we got a few decent chairs and some shade under a palapa. Seth and I snorkeled a bit here, there was a large coral reef with lots of pretty fish, but nothing I haven't seen before.I didn’t go out too far because we didn't have any floatation devices and they were going to serve lunch soon! We enjoyed our time at this beach, but soon got back on our boat and headed to another beach for a quick 40min stop. We just put our towels in the sand this time, no chairs available as this was a resort. Very beautiful beaches and super fun speedboat ride. I would do this tour again for sure!
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Dominica- This was our second trip here, it’s a rainforest island with a lot of natural attractions, not really a beach or shopping island. A lot of people don’t seem to like it, but I think it's a nice break from the same old beach scene. Last time we saw three of the major attractions so I was at a loss as to what we should do this time. I decided to join some people from our FB/Cruise critic on a tour they had arranged with Sheppee. It was a van tour with stops to see an old fort, a canoe ride down a river and then lunch on one of the beaches for I usually avoid land tours as I hate being trapped in a cramped automobile for extended period of time, but I signed up anyway, I think the canoe part kind of intrigued me. So we had a group of around 20 people, so we had two vans of people and then a drink van followed us around. We drove for an hour or so before the first stop. It took a lot longer to get around than usual because there was so much damage from the hurricane that pummeled the island in August. Many roads and bridges washed out, we had to take detours and go very slowly through parts. We stopped for a drink and stretch about halfway to the fort and once we got there everyone needed to use the bathroom. There was only one stall working for the womens room and about 15 women all needing it. It took what seemed like 30min just for a bathroom break, then we walked up the hill towards the fort. It was a little steep and hot and humid, took some people quite a while to make their way to the top. Being a rainforest island, it rains every day there, this day was no exception. It was showered on and off followed by bright sun all day long. Once we got to the top of the fort you could see another shower rolling in, we took cover under a giant tent that was being set up for an event later that day. Thank goodness because this one was a good downpour! Sheppee then gave us a quick tour of the fort, we headed back to the vans for another drink, bathrooms and to head to the canoeing spot. At this point it was already close to noon and I was starving even though we did eat a good breakfast. I chose not to drink on an empty stomach, was waiting for lunch. Everyone else was partaking, and another girl who was cruising solo was making it her job to drink as much as possible. We got to the indian river and I thought we were going to canoe individually down a flowing river, it was a little different than that. It was a canoe tour! Each van loaded into a big giant canoe and we had a tour guide rowing us along the very still water through the trees. It was quite beautiful and relaxing. Not what I was expecting but a unique experience for sure, parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed on this river and we were shown all the spots. I was getting really hungry and was about ready to be done with this part when we pulled up for a pit stop along the river. It was a little bar that some of the locals seemed to be hanging out at, they had a few kinds of rum “punches” and two beers that quickly sold out. We ordered a rum punch to pass the time, but it was horribly bad, I couldn’t choke it down. Drinker girl however pounded three of them I believe. She also proclaimed proudly that she hadn't eaten breakfast on purpose that morning. I think you know where this is going. The stop was a little awkward, creepy and uncomfortable and I think most of us were completely famished and “hangry” as it was after 2 now. We loaded back into the canoes and headed back to the van. Once back at the van it was around 230 and was asked by some of the others if we wanted to skip the beach and just go back to the ship since it was getting so late. I was really bummed, I’d been looking forward to the lunch and beach time and we were so close! I could tell I was the only one who still wanted to go so I agreed to just head back. I felt bad for Sheppee and his crew because I’m sure they had food prepared for us, I just hope it didn’t go to waste. So,now we began the long, twisty journey back to the ship. Still no food in my belly. I decided to have a beer at this point, I knew one or two might pass the ride quicker. I guess the combination of rum punch and twisty roads didn’t agree with poor drinker girl and sure enough we had to pull over 3 times on the way back, which was only annoying because we all were so hungry and needed to use the restroom. We got back to the port at about 4pm and had promised Sheppee earlier in the day we’d have a beer with him at the port. Everyone else ran from the van’s as fast as they could, and he seemed sad! We stayed with another couple and had a beer and chatted with Sheppee and his guys. They are all so kind and interesting to talk to.
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Big tent being decorated with local fresh flowers
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Drunken monkey
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St.kitts This was our third time here, last March we hiked the volcano, so this time we opted for something more low key. We decided on Shipwreck beach since we’d already been to Cockleshell. Its very rustic and a true island beach, not fancy by any means. I had fair warning on what to expect and we were quite pleased. They chairs and palapas were no charge, which is only fair since most of the chairs are very damaged and its hard to find one your butt doesn't fall through!! The beach is very narrow, the water comes right up to your chair. It's a black sand beach and I’ve seen a few but this has the darkest sand i’ve seen yet. It was so beautiful. Carombola beach club is about a mile down the road and you can walk there along the beach too which we did. It’s a newer and “nicer” beach club with nicer amenities but was more crowded and i’m sure much more expensive (hard to beat free). Most people would be pretty happy here, but if you’re looking for a more island feel shipwreck is kind of neat. We also had lunch and few buckets of beer here, the fish tacos were excellent and the chicken taco was good but not as good. Very nice people working here as well. They have monkeys and mongoose that come down out of the trees, I only caught a glimpse of one monkey before he ran away. I wouldn't go here just for that reason because it's likely you won't see any. The taxi ride was $4pp there, and since we opted to leave later with a smaller group he charged us $7pp return. We shopped around the port area for a bit and had a drink at the Drunken Monkey. I remember seeing it last time and wanted to give it a shot, its a bar that features a drink called the drunken monkey, it's basically a rum punch drink and of course was delicious for $8.
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I love the black sand
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Pointing to mt. Liamuiga, the volcano we hiked last time
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A walk down the beach to get some lunch
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Conch fritters
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Lunch with a view
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This place rented water sports equipment I think I have a pic of the prices if anyone is interested I'll look for it
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She made some fantastic drinks
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Bushwacker or painkiller not sure which but both are delish!
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St. Thomas- This was our 5th stop here, we were debating between staying on ship to save some money or going to Magens Bay which we hadn’t seen yet. We decided to just get off the ship for a little shopping around the port. We bought two big gallon jugs of water to refill our water bottles with and had no problem taking them back on the ship. We enjoyed a leisurely day on board without a majority of the passengers, it was nice. As it turns out we found out later Magens bay was closed due to bacteria in the water so I guess we made the right decision.
Tortola- This was our second trip here, in March we did the “must see” baths which is what a majority of people seemed to be doing. This time I had wanted to see Jost Van Dyke via Catamaran. I booked with Aristocat Charters months before and recruited the minimum amount of people we needed (10) on FB groups and Cruise Critic. This was the day I was most excited for, but the morning we boarded the ship I had gotten an email from Stephen at Aristocat that “due to circumstances out of his control he had to cancel our trip”. I was almost in tears! He offered an alternative trip to another island but I need to contact my group to see if they all wanted to join us (minimum number) and since it was travel day for most people or they were already on board it was impossible to reach everyone before I had to shut my phone off before sail away. Anyway, I ended up getting in touch with everyone but two people to notify them of the cancellation. We were in St. Thomas the day before and I tried to make arrangements with another tour company but everything was already booked. I was defeated, and not able to visit Jost Van Dyke this trip. I got off the ship early to try and meet the two people I hadn’t been able to reach about the tour cancellation, but after 30min of walking back and forth, we couldnt even find the meeting spot we had set up!! The port is still under construction so the sign we set to meet up at wasn’t there. I felt so bad but I had to give up. It was well past the meeting time anyway and I figured they’d probably moved on as well. We ended up taking a taxi/bus to Cane Garden Bay beach. The taxi ride was $8pp each way, it's a very twisty and hilly ride, hold on tight! The beach was beautiful, we rented chairs and an umbrella for $15. We had a few delicious drinks that were only $5 each and also walked down the beach a bit and had some lunch at Myetts Garden and Grill. I ordered the conch fritters and a bushwacker, Seth ordered a jerk chicken panini I believe. The food was very good, I’ve had good and some very bad conch fritters and I thought these were delish. The view was pretty too, I recommend trying this place. We didnt feel like snorkeling but I don’t think it was that great here anyway, I did hear that Brewers bay was much better for snorkeling.
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Ports of call:
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Some of my favorite drinks
Pomtini
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Spicy pineapple martini
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Can't remember but something amazing at the alchemy bar!
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Steakhouse
Purple gazpacho compliments of the chef
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Strange Cesar salad
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Lobster Ravioli
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Bonsai sushi
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Ji-Ji
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Duck appetizer
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Shortribs
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Cucina del Capitano
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Risotto balls
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Chicken Parmesan
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We tried each of the dining options at least once with the exception of the Mongolian Wok at lunch.
-Guys burgers has the second best burgers I’ve had,very juicy but a tad salty and tasty fries- we had 2 or 3 during the week
-Blue Iguana Cantina, I tried a shrimp burrito with rice, which was good and very filling. Chicken tacos were good too but the pork I found a little fatty
-La Cucina del Capitano,we had the pasta bar lunch which was average, and we also ate there for dinner one night which turned out to be my favorite specialty restaurant this sailing, and italian is usually my last choice.
-Ji-Ji was my least favorite meal on the cruise, everyone raves about it but I just didn’t care for anything except the shrimp dumpling appetizer. All the meat was fatty and had spices on it I didn’t care for. I would not eat there again
- Steakhouse, this was our 4th time eating in the steakhouse on Carnival, the menu is always the same. In the past I wanted to try the lobster ravioli but always got talked into steak, this time I stood my ground and got the ravioli and... it was terrible. I think a good ravioli has a nice light pasta shell, but these were more like dumplings or pierogis. Very thick heavy outer shell and the seasoning and sauce mixed with the lobster completely overpowered the lobster and the dish in my opinion was terrible. I should have sent it back but I wasn’t starving anyway so I didn't see the point in ordering another meal I wouldn't finish. Everything else we ate in the steakhouse was very good and I still left plenty full.
-Lido Marketplace ( buffet) we only came here for breakfast and it was super quick and easy, I loved that there were no lines! I realized halfway through that the omelets at the omelet station were super amazing. Im very fussy about my omelets not having any brown on them and they made the perfectly without me even asking every time. I would also go over to the havana bar to get my morning mimosa and grab a couple of the “breakfast bites” they had out. The croquettes were so yummy!!
-The Deli,Seth has a slight obsession with the turkey wraps here, he had at least 3 for late afternoon snacks but I don't care for the kind of deli meat they use there. I would have liked to try a different kind of sandwich but just never did.
-Bonsai Sushi- I tried a shrimp tempura roll there and it was really good and hit the spot except that I specifically checked the menu and it said it came with cucumber and didn’t list avocado but sure enough there were huge chunks of avocado which i don’t care much for. I still enjoyed it but I wish they’d make it they way they advertise it.
Main Dining Room- We had “your time dining” like we usually do and had a table for 2 each night. A few nights we had to wait 15 min or so for a table, but it worked for us because we always stopped at the alchemy bar to grab a drink to take with us since drink service is usually slow in the MDR. As far as the food, it was the old menu’s still which I was happy about since we didn't care much for the American Table on the Liberty. I guess we’ve become snobby foodies in the last few years because the food in the MDR was subpar at best. My favorite meal was the chicken pot pie and I also really liked the Chateaubriand.
-Taste Bar, we had to check in to dinner across from the taste bar each night, so we grabbed a bite there each night they had it. I think they had it 6 night, each a small sample based on a specialty dining restaurant within the carnival fleet. Everything was delicious, but some of it is hard to eat beacuse they don't give you any utensils.
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Chateubriand
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Review: Carnival Sunshine Journeys Cruise 11/28-12/9
in Carnival Cruise Lines
Posted
Thanks for sharing your pics! I'm so bummed we didn't make it! I guess it gives me a reason to go back. Hey I'm curious how you found me at sugar beach?