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Sunshine Review - 6 Day Western Caribbean - 11/18/13

Kim_KS

By Kim_KS,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Kim_KS

Kim_KS

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This is my first time to write a review, so I hope you'll bare with me. This was my second cruise, so I am definitely not an expert, but hopefully our experiences can help someone else as much as other reviews have helped me.

 

My husband and I went on our first cruise in May for our anniversary and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to take our kids on one. We have four teenagers - 14, 16, 17 and 20. The three boys were not all that excited about the idea of cruising, but we knew they'd have fun once they got there. Our daughter has been excited from the beginning and we looked at pictures and reviews together over the last few months as we got ready to go.

 

As you know, this was the inaugural sailing for the Carnival Sunshine in the US. It was a 6-day cruise leaving New Orleans on November 18, 2013 and returning November 25, 2013. We had two ports - Cayman Islands and Cozumel.

 

I've been trying to decide how to format my review so it doesn't get repetitive and boring. Most of our sea days were spent about the same so I will group them all together, and then try to highlight our shore excursions and other interesting items.

 

About Us

We are a family of six from the Kansas City area. My husband, Darrin and I have been married for 23 years.

 

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We have one son in college, Ryan (20). We have two sons in High School, Regan (17) and Brooks (16). And last but not least, a daughter in Middle School, Victoria (14). The kids missed a week of school for the cruise, and they were not really happy about that. But we knew once we got on the ship, they would forget all about school, wrestling practice, and basketball practice. :)

 

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Our Cabins

We booked two cabins - an aft balcony for my husband, myself and my daughter and an inside for the boys. My travel agent did not mention when we booked the inside that it only had two beds and a roll-away had to be brought in. If I'd know this, I probably would've tried to book a different room. But by the time I found out we were already booked and I wanted to the boys’ room to be close to our room so we didn't change it. Once the roll-away was brought in, there wasn't much floor space in their room at all. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of their room - sorry! The aft balcony had a couch that folded out. When we first arrived, the room steward had folded it out so that it was parallel to the other beds. This made it very hard to get around in the room. You had to step over the end of the pull-out bed to get to/from the balcony. The first night I almost killed myself going to the bathroom trying to step over with the ship moving. So the next morning I folded it back up and asked him if he could pull it out just at night. He would not agree to that. But he said he could put the matress on the couch and with an extension, it ended up being fine. He left it made up all the time so if we wanted to sit on the couch, we had to sit on the bed, but it worked out fine. Here are pictures of our room with the second configuration. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of it the other way.

 

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Edited by Kim_KS
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Kim_KS

Kim_KS

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Here are some pics of our bathroom and the free samples

 

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Embarkation - Monday, November 18

We left Kansas City on Friday and took a few days driving to New Orleans. We stayed in the Homewood Suites on Poydras the night before the cruise. It was a nice hotel and I would recommend it for large families who don't want to have more than one room that will accomodate everyone. We originally booked a room with 2 queens and a pull-out sofa. The desk clerk upgraded us to a 2-room suite which was so nice. We had one room with a King bed, one room with 2 queens, and then a sofa bed in the living room. Our cost was $170 with military discount. Since there was a large convention in town, and a Saints game that day, we were happy to find a room downtown for that price.

 

We left the hotel and went to Walmart to grab a couple last minute items before heading to the port. We arrived at the port parking garage at about 10:00 am. Since the Sunshine had arrived in port the day before, we were hoping we would be able to board early. We weren't disappointed! We easily went through security and check-in and received Zone 7. It wasn't long before they started boarding and we were called about 11:15 am. We all went through and scanned our cards. My 17-year old son was told he had a baggage violation and he couldn't board until he got it cleared up! What? He and I headed back in the direction of the security lines and found someone that could help us. Evidently the belt buckle in his bag that is shaped like a gun was not allowed. Gessh. It's like 3 inches long and could never be mistaken for a real gun. But we had two choices - either throw it in the trash or take it back to the car. So we went back and got the car keys from my husband (the rest of the family was waiting for us to board) and went out to the parking garage. We put the belt buckle in the car and went through security ONE MORE TIME. Now we could finally board. It was about 11:30 am by this time. Next time we'll make sure he leaves that belt buckle at home! LOL.

 

Once we boarded we got in the Guest Services line to get our extra keys. Because we had to book an adult in each room, my husband and one of my son's needed a key for their actual room. The line was moving very slowly so we decided to wait until later. We ended up getting the key later in the afternoon when there was no line. Here’s a picture of what they give you. It’s a sail & sign card that is just a room key.

 

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Kim_KS

Kim_KS

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We headed up to our deck and the fire doors were still closed so we headed to Lido for lunch. Everyone found their favorite food and we met in the back near Cucina del Capitano to eat together. This would end up being "our spot" for eating meals on Lido. It was never crowded back there and we actually got the same table every time. That's a tip I learned here - I guess a lot of people don't realize it's back there. It worked out great for us to have a designated spot where the kids knew we'd be eating so they could easily find us.

 

By the time we were done eating, our rooms were ready and we went to check them out. We dropped off our bags, took a look at the balcony and our rooms. The boys' room did not have the roll-away yet so I called the Room Stewardess (?) and she said they were planning to bring it later. We checked out our "swag" for being on the innagural cruise and then headed out to tour the ship.

 

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After muster we waited on the balcony for sail-away. And waited. And waited. Finally at 5:00 pm we had to go to the Youth Club registration. I had already registered on-line but I wasn't sure if we needed to attend. I'm still not sure. During the presentation, they said that if you registered online, you don't need to turn any paperwork. But another person said I needed to turn them in anyway. I had already printed them at home so I went ahead and turned them in. When we were done there we still hadn't left port! I'm not sure exactly what time we finally left - I think sometime after 6:00.

 

When we got back to the room, all but one of our bags were delivered. We thought that was strange, as it looked like they were finished delivering all the luggage. So my daughter and I went down to Guest Services to see if they could check on her bag. As we were getting in line, we noticed a line of luggage to the side of the Guest Services area and sure enough - there was her suitcase. The Cruise Critic luggage tag had broken. The loop was still on her bag, but the tag was gone. I had placed a paper with our stateroom number inside each piece of luggage. Evidently that doesn't help. Good to know. But at least now we know where to look if we are missing a bag!

 

Since everyone had their bags, we worked on unpacking and getting ready for dinner. Since we had late seating in the dining room, we had time to go to Celebrity Yearbook Trivia in the Liquid Lounge before dinner. We didn't do so great, but it was fun. From here, the three teens went to their Youth Club Meet & Greets while the rest of us ate in the dining room. I told the 14, 16, and 17 year-olds that they had to attend the first night's club acitvity so they could meet people and after that it was up to them if they wanted to attend anything else. My daughter went to a couple activities that first night and that's it. The boys didn't go to anything at all. There were very few teens on board. Each club meet & green only had 12-15 kids. Here are the activity schedules if you are interested.

 

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Kim_KS

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I thought the activities sounded fun, but the kids were perfectly happy to hang out with us. I wasn't going to complain about that. It ended up being nice having everyone together most of the time, but they still had the freedom to do things on their own too.

 

I think we took pictures of the menu every day. It was nice to have it on our phone so that we could take a look at plan what we’d order for dinner that night. I will try to post all the menus that I have.

 

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I guess I didn’t get the dessert menu for Day 1 :(

 

Will continue with the first Sea Day tomorrow....

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Rsebdb

Rsebdb

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Congrats on doing your first review and thank you! I'm looking forward to what's ahead and really enjoying hearing about a family cruise. We've got a "multi-generational" family sailing on Sunshine in just a few months so your info will be very helpful. Thanks!:)

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