A Bright SUNSHINE Christmas Cruise Report

[smc1313s]

Loving the review so far! Just booked my cruise tonight to set sail on April 6th! Question about your hotel...how much was it for the taxi to the port? Do you know if they offered free shuttle from airport? Thank you!

 

Thanks for reading along! I am a little jealous of your upcoming cruise:p Writing this review is making me wanna go back! You will love it though! The ship and crew are fantastic. The taxi was $20 including tip for 4 people to the port. We kind of got screwed on the way back though and it ended up being $34. We should have called the same guy for the return trip, but you live and you learn, huh?. Unfortunately this hotel did not offer a shuttle service. It is a quick ride to and from the port though. I really did enjoy the hotel and would not hesitate to stay there again in the future!

[smc1313s]

The rest of embarkation afternoon was the typical. Went to muster, which for us was in the theatre. Had some DOD's while we unpacked and watched sail-away from our balcony. This was the first and only night we ate in the main dining room. We had ATD and arrived around 645. We were seated within 10 minutes and had a great waiter, hot food, and fast service. We intended to go back but just never made it any other time thru the week. We were usually just not in the mood to get dressed for dinner. We were gonna meet up with A/J for the 1130 comedy show but we decided to do the 1015 instead and left A/J a message to change the plan. A/J went to the steakhouse for dinner. As the time neared for the show neither C nor myself wanted to go we were too "tired" (a.k.a buzzed from the DODs):D and just crashed. Turns out A/J were a little too "tired" from their free bottle of wine and didn't make the show either.

[meatball_nyc]

Ahhhh I love reading cruise reviews!

 

Fun times and great pix! Thanks so far.

 

Happy New Year and rock out the new year on a cruise!!

 

 

 

~robin and brian~

Norwegian Breakaway 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[familyfuncruise]

Loving the review...keep it coming

[SamGoodyTwoShoes]

Looks like the start of a great cruise on Carnival Sunshine.

[pirate4me2]

I am really enjoying the review. Thanks for taking the time to do it. How did A/J like the steakhouse?

[Dymediva]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. I am enjoying it:) I will be sailing on the Sunshine in 18 days and I'm so excited. I can hardly wait:D

[smc1313s]

I have to apologize for leaving anyone following hanging. The past 2 weeks were very busy for me and I also got a stomach bug that kept me down a few days. I hate being one of those that starts a review and then leaves it hanging. But I am back now and am going to try to knock the rest of it out before the weekend is over!

[smc1313s]

Monday was the first sea day. We woke up in the 8am hour got ready and went for breakfast. C had something from lido. I had a burrito from the Cantina. It was pretty good. I had the Mexican eggs and ham. I wish I had gotten chorizo, and intended to at some point in the week but never made it back there for breakfast. After breakfast we headed down to Ocean Plaza for trivia. On the way I stopped for a latte at the Java Blue Coffee Spot. I had the Chocolate Lovers Coffee, and I fell in LOVE with it! It is a latte with a shot of Cruzan Vanilla rum, a shot of Crème de Cacao, and chocolate syrup. The barista was Demile and I came to really enjoy her in the mornings that I got a latte. She knew what I wanted after the first time ordering, that’s service! I got a coffee “punch” card, which is buy 6 get the 7th free. I didn’t end up having a latte every morning though. We played trivia until lunch then hit up Guy’s for a burger and fries.

 

After lunch we were headed to the Hasbro Game Show. On the way we stopped by the Shake Spot for a shake. C had the Rum-Laced Chocolate and I had The Spirit of Kentucky. The chocolate is made with chocolate ice cream and vanilla rum. The Spirit is vanilla ice cream with Makers Mark bourbon. This would become an afternoon tradition for us: lunch then boozy milkshakes for dessert:). Annika was the gal who made our shakes everyday. She was so funny! On the first trip there C was looking at the cookies that are “fresh baked” and said they looked good. She asked Annika if they were soft or hard. Annika said “let me check, yesterday they were so hard I could kill someone with them!”:D So she picked one up and banged it in the platter and said “Nope, still hard. They have the Chinese making and I don’t know why, they are always hard!”:D (All of Annika’s quotes have to be read in your best Russian accent;)) She knew what we wanted each afternoon and was always very funny. She had a great dry sarcasm that I really appreciated. We did get the shake “punch” card, same as coffee, buy 6 get 7th free. And we actually utilized this one.

 

Here is a pic of our yummy milkshakes:

 

The Hasbro Game Show is really fun. We met up with A/J there and J actually got to go up on stage! Jaime, the CD, comes into the audience and asks random trivia questions. She chooses 4 contestants for each the red and blue team. If you answer the trivia question correct you get to go on stage. J got to play Simon on stage. Unfortunately his team lost. He did get a pocket version of Simon as a parting gift though.

 

Here is a pic of J up on stage playing: (In the green shirt)

 

The rest of the afternoon was more trivia and just general relaxing. Tonight was the first elegant night, but C and I decided not to go. I always find the lobster rubbery and the prime rib overcooked, and C didn’t want to dress up. We decided to go to Cucina de Capitano for dinner. I called and made a reservation, then called to see if A/J wanted to come with, and they did.

[smc1313s]

Dinner at Cucina is $12 per person, and well worth it! We tried 4 apps; risotto balls, meatballs, eggplant parm, and fried calamari. All were good except the calamari was tough. C/J got chicken parm, I got carbonara, A got seafood marinara. The parm was HUGE and very good. The carbonara was AMAZING! The seafood marinara was not that great, the sauce was good but the seafood was overcooked, again calamari was tough. The portions were so big that since A didn’t care for hers, I shared my carbonara with her and we still didn’t finish it! I also had a side of rosemary potatoes, which were very good too! (I LOVE pretty much anything with rosemary and these potatoes had lots of that flavor!)

 

During dinner the ship was moving quite a bit, and since we were aft I think we felt it even more. J started to get queasy and didn’t want to finish his dinner, so A went to get him some Bonine. The server packed his entrée to go (although he never finished it as he had no way to reheat it). We ordered dessert while she was gone. C got the apple crostoda, Me/A ordered the cannoli, J got the lemon sorbeto (he thought it might be light and help the queasiness), and I also ordered a tiramisu for the table (really for me because I was torn between cannoli and it). The tiramisu was fantastic, one of the best I have ever had! All of the desserts were really good, which surprised me because sometimes Carnival’s sweets are hit or miss. We all sampled each other’s dishes because they bring more than enough food. Over all there wasn’t anything I didn’t like. I will most definitely go again! Well worth the upcharge if you like Italian food!

 

Here are some pics of dinner:

 

Risotto Balls

 

Meat Balls

 

Eggplant Parm

 

Fried Calamari

[smc1313s]

Here are the entrees we all had:

 

Chicken Parm

 

Carbonara

 

Seafood Marinara

[smc1313s]

And finally the desserts:

 

Apple Crostoda

 

Cannoli

 

Sorbetto

 

Tiramisu

[smc1313s]

After dinner we went to the adult comedy show. We had to wait in the hall outside the Lime-Light Lounge for the doors to open. Let me tell you it was so friggin HOT in the hallway! Seriously, it was like being in the depths of HELL!:mad: Finally the doors open and we go in to get a seat. We got awesome seats…with a TV view of the stage.:rolleyes: Yep, we were on the side of the stage and they had a TV showing the stage that we couldn't see because of the flawed design of this lounge. And on top of that it was hellishly hot in there as well! I really don't know what they were thinking with this lounge. It looks beautiful but the layout is ridiculous. Comedy is pretty popular on Carnival and I think they should really create a larger venue for it, or put it in the main showroom. Besides the main theatre on the Sunshine is set up more like a club anyways, so why not have it there? Just let it be known that if you want to see comedy on the Sunshine you have to get there like an hour early, and wait in the bowels of hell, to get a good seat. Ok, that's the end of my rant. Anywho, the comedian was funny and we had a good time despite my complaints. I can’t remember his name. I intended to keep the Funtimes, but C went on a cleaning spree mid-week and tossed them.:rolleyes::p After comedy we parted ways with A/J and crashed. Overall an awesome fun day at sea!

[Bobug]

So happy you came back to finish your review. We will be on the Sunshine the second week in Feb...very excited!

[smc1313s]

Here are some pics of the Lime Light so you can get an idea of the layout:

 

You can the stage in the middle and how the seating goes around out of view of the stage: (We were on the left watching that stupid TV the first night)

 

I did like this banquette seating area though, and the colors:

 

Again here, though, you can that from the banquette and those chairs that they are looking at a wall instead of the stage:

[cruisin blue]

[quote name='smc1313s']
[SIZE=3][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR=blue]After we finished the game we introduced ourselves to Alex the social host. He was awesome! He is from Russia and is the first Russian to ever be on the Carnival entertainment staff. He used to be a bar waiter, but really wanted to be on the entertainment staff and finally made it. He was very proud to have his position and was quite good at it. We did hear some people complaining from time to time thru the week because of his accent, but we never found him hard to understand, and he was happy to repeat himself if you missed what he said. It was actually annoying to hear people complaining about it. We had a blast with him, he has a great sense of humor and loves his job! Here he is being silly and posing for a picture for us:D[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR=blue][URL="http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/smc1313s/media/People%20Pics/DSC06770_zps30090db7.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b562/smc1313s/People%20Pics/DSC06770_zps30090db7.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][FONT=Arial Black][COLOR=blue]If you are on the Sunshine soon and see him, take the time to talk to him. You will enjoy him![/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/quote]

We were on the Sunshine the week before you and had the chance to meet Alex at the trivia games also. Luckily, they did have the SOAS the week we were there and we managed to snag FOUR of them during trivia! We enjoyed Alex and have to agree that he has a wonderful personality! :D

[smc1313s]

[quote name='SamGoodyTwoShoes']Looks like the start of a [B]great [/B]cruise on Carnival Sunshine.[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]It was probably the greatest cruise we have been on to date! Had such a blast![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[smc1313s]

[quote name='cruisin blue']We were on the Sunshine the week before you and had the chance to meet Alex at the trivia games also. Luckily, they did have the SOAS the week we were there and we managed to snag FOUR of them during trivia! We enjoyed Alex and have to agree that he has a wonderful personality! :D[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]I have to say I am a bit jealous that you got a SOAS:p I am glad that you enjoyed Alex as well, he is quite a character![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[smc1313s]

[quote name='pirate4me2']I am really enjoying the review. Thanks for taking the time to do it. How did A/J like the steakhouse?[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]A/J really enjoyed the Steakhouse. We went on the last night and they came with us again. Stay tuned for pics and a more detailed review of the experience...I promise I will actually get to and not leave you hanging this time:o[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[smc1313s]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]Tuesday was a pretty casual laid-back day. We got up again in the 8am hour. Had some breakfast. Got my boozy coffee. We pretty much did trivia all morning and part of the afternoon. Today was the Love and Marriage show hosted by Jaime. I am sure you are all familiar with it so I won’t go into great detail other than to say that I tried to get C and myself up there to play…much to C’s insistence of the opposite! During the show after all of the couples had been picked there was a loud noise and everyone gasped and turned to the back of the theatre. A lady had fallen down the stairs and made a pretty rough landing. Jaime handled the situation like a pro. She remained calm and asked if there were any medical trained persons in the lounge to attend to the lady until ship medics arrived. I am sure stuff like that happens all the time, but she handled it flawlessly and once the lady was taken to the infirmary, continued the show and made it a blast!

In the evening J and I went out to the Serenity pool and hot tub while C and A went to the spa. I don’t know what they did but they enjoyed themselves! Since we were in a spa cabin we had the wristbands and A just used mine since I didn’t want to go.

We had a leisurely Lido dinner, caught a comedy show (with better seats this time), and then went to the White Hot party in the club (which is the theatre during the day). We had a really fun time dancing in the club. Alex the trivia host showed up in there and he hung with us for a while, and we may or may not have ordered a few rounds of shots to share with him. The rounds kept coming, as I would order one, then J would, then A would, then C would. It gets a little fuzzy from there, but I am pretty sure I had some pizza from lido, and chocolate cake and cheesecake from room service some time before I crashed around 330 or 4am. It was quite a fun evening and we enjoyed getting to chat with Alex when he wasn’t on duty.
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[smc1313s]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]So this morning is MoBay Jamaica. I had booked an all-inclusive resort for the day for C and me. We had to be off the ship to meet our transportation by 9am. C woke me up at about 815am. Needless to say I was still a bit tipsy from all of the rounds of shots just a few hours earlier. I decided instead of a shower I would go plunge in the Serenity waterfall pool. The water in that pool was cold the entire week and I figured that would shock my system back into normalcy. It worked! I actually felt pretty good after that. I went back to the cabin and got ready and C brought in some eats from Lido. We managed a few quick bites then off for our day in paradise!

I booked the Grand Palladium Resort for the day. We had been to MoBay last year on our Conquest cruise and did Sunset Resort. It was nice, but I wanted something different this time, something nicer. I researched and found this place on Jamaica for a day dot com. It was $99 per person and included round-trip transportation.

We met our bus driver, after a bit of confusion, and we were on our way. Apparently we missed the first bus so we had to wait about 10 minutes for another…even though we were where we were supposed to be on time. Anyway, we had the bus to ourselves and Peter was our driver. The drive to Grand Palladium is about 35 minutes from MoBay, and the resort is located in Lucea. Peter was fantastic! He pointed out lots of cool things along the way and told us a lot about his country. He pointed out KFC and said here we don’t call it Kentucky Fried Chicken, we call it Keep From Cooking!

We got to the resort and got checked in very easily. We didn’t bring towels from the ship because they were provided. You get a card from the desk when you check in and then trade the card for a towel by the pool. At the end of the day you turn the towel back in and get the card back to turn it at check out. Easy enough. We made our way down to the pool and found a good place to get settled, and plunged right in. Well I plunged in, C slowly made her way in; she thought the water was cold. I was hot and thought it felt great. We made our way to the swim up bar and ordered some drinks. We started with Coke, since it was only 10am. Well, OK, rum and Coke. Hey, don’t judge, we were on vacation! We enjoyed the pool and drinks for a couple of hours and just relaxed. The pool was massive and had lots of great little nooks with built in loungers to relax in.

Around noon we decided we would head for some food. We dried off and went in search of the restaurant. Not a completely easy task as this resort is huge! We found it pretty quickly though. It was a buffet style restaurant and had lots of variety. They had sushi, pasta, pizza, salad, burger and hotdog, and dessert stations. As well they had lots of fresh breads and some local dishes with fresh seafood. I tried small bits of everything that interested me, and found it all to be very good. Jamaicans use lots of spice, which I like, but C had a couple of bites that were too spicy for her. The only thing I got that was not good was the hotdog. I looked so promising, but was just mushy and flavorless. They had a server to get drinks; they had sodas, water, wine, and beer. I had a Red Stripe with lunch and C had soda. I really enjoyed the Red Stripe and made that my drink for the rest of the day.

After lunch we walked around and explored the grounds a bit. They have some shops and whatnot. Then we went to walk on the beach for a bit before settling back in the pool for the remainder of our time.

I hopped out from time to time to check the time as our ride was coming back at 3pm. Well I hopped out of the pool to check the time the last time and freaked out because it was 250pm. I made C rush out and we both went to dry off and change as fast as we could. We hurried back up to where our ride was supposed to be and he was not there. C looked at her phone to see the time and she said, “Honey, my phone says 2pm.” I was confused but looked at the clock at the check in desk, and sure enough it was 2pm. What happened was that I tried to use the WiFi when we first arrived and my phone auto set to an hour ahead. Oh well, we had another hour to relax. So we walked around and took some more pics then settled at a bar overlooking the ocean. Then at the real 3pm, Peter was waiting for us and we were off back to the ship. We had some time to look around the stores at port before we got back on board. I bought a couple bottles of liquor and went ahead of C while she continued to shop. I was naughty and did not check my alcohol at the table.

C made it back on board and we relaxed a bit and grabbed a burger. We watched sail away and then grabbed a late Lido dinner. We caught some karaoke, which was not bad. The there was a magician to perform in the Lime Light some time around 1030pm. We met up with A/J to see him and we were just hanging in the lounge when we were told that we had to go wait in the hall while they prepared for the show. Seriously!?! We had really good seats and by the time we made it into the hall we were near the end of the line. I was pretty tired at this point from the lack of sleep last night and the morning/afternoon of drinks. It was hot in the hall and I was sure our seats would suck. I bailed. The rest of the gang stayed to watch the magician, I went and crashed! They all said that I should have stayed and the show was really good, but I was happy with my decision!
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[smc1313s]

[FONT="Arial Black"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]Here are some pics of the Grand Palladium:
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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[smc1313s]

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[smc1313s]

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[smc1313s]

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