Carnival Sunshine Trip Review - May 24th, 2015 - Is it better in the Bahamas?

[bingo3]

Impatiently waiting for the rest, LOL!:D

[big ragu 1950]

good to hear an honest report of your cruise, enjoying your pics as well

[dst]

Excited to read the rest - we will be on the Sunshine in just 92 days......we have rented a cabana on HMC (have done it each time we go) but not sure what to do in Freeport and Nassau....

 

Thanks for doing a review

[cruzeluver]

Loving your review. Please come back! Don't le this be another review that just dies...........Its been really good so far.

[misstiffany]

Nassau, Bahamas and The British Colonial Hilton

 

Thank you everyone for the nice replies! I wish I had been able to post this part up sooner but that little thing called work likes to get in the way!

 

I think I have been to Nassau three times before this trip (all via cruising), and I've never had the "worst port ever" experience that many on these boards speak of in regards to Nassau. I wasn't particularly wowed either. Memorable things I've done in Nassau before are a Stingray Excursion and walking all over town on a "self-guided walking tour" I found online - I thin it was Frommers. I took the Stingray Excursion through RCCL years ago and I'm not sure if it's still available, but it consisted of being picked up at the port by a small catamaran, going to a small private island, being given a bucket of fish heads and tossed in the water with stingrays. The fish heads were gross, the stingrays were large, and I think I poked one in the eye. The water was freezing in the winter and I might as well have been feeding seal parts to whales....so yeah, knew I didn't really want to do that again. The self-guided walking tour takes you to a few well known Nassau landmarks (including and it was completely safe, but not worth doing twice. If you chose to do it, be warned that there's a lot of stray, extremely skinny dogs running in packs all over Nassau. They're not aggressive, but will probably make your girlfriend, daughter, mother, or any puppy lovin' individual very sad. Other than that, I've gone to Junkanoo Beach and some of the aquariums at Atlantis. If you've gone to the Georgia Aquarium or Shedd, you probably won't be impressed with Atlantis's aquarium offerings, but it could be worth a look if you're there for something else. I thought Junkanoo Beach was perfectly fine as far as being a nice, sandy beach....but I could NOT STAND the constant harassment by vendors. Perhaps if the beach was longer it would not be as much of an issue, but I couldn't get past it. I've also gone to Senor Frogs multiple times...which is not always so memorable :cool:

 

This all brings me to the plans for Nassau for this cruise - The British Colonial Hilton (BCH). Gems like this place are where Cruise Critic really comes in handy. I simply spent a little time reading the Ports of Call section of the CC Boards and kept seeing the small, quiet BCH show up as a nice place to spend the day. Several others looked nice too, but the two main factors that pushed me to choose the BCH were 1) It's completely walkable from the cruise port and 2) your day pass gives you back some of your money in the form of a voucher that you can use on food or alcohol.

 

Pre-Booking the Day Pass: There are two ways you can reserve a day pass at the BCH and both cost exactly the same. One is through Resort For A Day Dot Com and the other is through Bahamas Cruise Excursions Dot Com. It's only $12 to reserve a day pass online, and you will pay the remainder ($48) when you arrive at the BCH. You'll pay the $48 directly to BCH so you won't need to stop anywhere first. My only advice would be to book a little early to make sure that you can get a day pass, especially if it's a holiday week/weekend or a popular time of the year for vacations. I'm hesitant to purchase to book any non- cruise line sponsored excursions way in advance, primarily because I know that the refund process will be harder than it is with the cruise line. Carnival, for example, lets you cancel and get a full refund for your excursion for any reason, at any time, leading up to the day of the excursion. You can request the refund online without any hassle. However, there's no guarantee of this for any outside vendors. For example, what if the weather forecast is looking awful? What if I break my leg a week before the cruise and decide to still go and just nurse the blues away at Senor Frogs (I know someone who did just this) ? Anyhow, this caused me to put off booking a day pass at BCH and by the time I went online to do, about a week before the cruise, one of the sellers was sold out! Luckily the other vendor had 2 passes available.

 

Getting there: I just wanted to throw this in there for those who may not have been to Nassau before. I had a good idea of where the BCH is, but if you're not sure...Google an image of the BCH before your trip and get a good idea of what the building look like. Then, just go on the top deck of your ship in the morning before you head into Nassau, and look for the building. IT'S THAT CLOSE. You'll see it and yes, the beach looks very tiny from your ship...but don't let that discourage you. After you've gotten a good idea of where the BCH is, just head in the direction of that building when you exit the port area. It's easily visible during the entire walk.

 

When you get to the BCH, you'll need to head to check-in just like a regular hotel guest. They were able to look me up by last name and I had to pay by Credit Card. I haven't seen any mysterious charges so I'll go ahead and say that went smoothly. After paying, you'll receive armbands and two vouchers - one for checking out towels and one for paying for your drinks and food. Then, you're free to head outside to their property.

 

For detailed pictures and descriptions, just look at Trip Advisor, which has plenty of reviews. The only things I'll throw in are my opinions... We were some of the first to arrive and the beach area was a mess when we got there. It literally looked like a storm or large party had overtaken the beach area the night before...no trash, but the lounge chair cushions were ALL over the beach, chairs were toppled over, tables and umbrellas turned over, etc. It didn't bother us, but I could see how some could be turned off. We simply tidied up a small area, plopped down our towels on chairs (we didn't bother renting towels) under an umbrella and RELAXED. If there's anything positive about the mess, it meant that the chairs weren't all crowded and shoved up next to each other like you might find at Grand Turk or at Carnival's island in Nassau (Balmoral Island).

 

I loved how quiet it was for the entire day... NO MUSIC at all. The only sounds were the waves and occasional ambulance siren (it is in the middle of a city after all). You might also hear the occasional hoot or holler from Senor Frogs, as well as drills for cruise ship crews (yes, it's that close to the ships) but it's not bad at all. WAY better than hearing "Who Let The Dogs Out?" or other bad songs of the 90s blaring in your ears all day. This place is also pretty self-service, which I appreciated. You won't have waiters coming up to you, but you'll get great service if you go to order drink or food from the bar (near the pool) and you're welcome to bring either back to your beach chair. The drinks and food are expensive, but we felt that the pass's $48 worth of food and drink per person was fulfilling. I had more pictures but they're stuck in the internal memory of my ancient Olympus Tough waterproof camera and I lost the connection cable...but here's what I found on my memory card:

 

 

 



 



 

 

We had to be back on board by 4 or 5pm, so I believe we probably left the BCH at around 2:30pm (after getting there at about 8:30a.m.) and felt the pass was worth it for that short time period. I can't think of any excursions that looked worthwhile in Nassau that cost a total of $60 per person and included alcohol. Plus, the hassle of not having to take a boat, taxi or bus anywhere was greatly appreciated by us. We even had enough time left with our day to stop at Senor Frogs. I think that going to Senor Frogs late in the day has several advantages : 1) if you get there early you'd probably be three sheets to the wind by afternoon and might miss the boat, 2) you won't be too drunk to laugh your ass off at all the people who DO fall into that category. :D Senor's is a little pricey, but me and my boyfriend tend to pick whatever yard drink looks like it has the most alcohol, AKA bang for your buck, and sip casually while observing the chaos around us.

 

That night back on board was uneventful, except for me getting seasick. I still contribute this to a certain factor, but it's nothing I could change. Every night we had dinner in the main dining room, which is on a low deck..deck 3 or 4? Every night, the dining room was shaking and rocking and rolling like a scene from Titanic was about to unfold. I put up with it the first few nights and was only mildly queasy. On this night, I suppose my stomach had all it could take and I only barely made it through dinner without humiliating myself (and probably looking like I had too much at Senor Frogs). I didn't even mention it during dinner as I kept telling myself I could get over it and be just as happy and smiling as everyone around me...but as soon as I made it back to the cabin...ugh. After expelling dinner, I was probably sleeping by 9:30 p.m. The only upside was that I got PLENTY of sleep and apparently missed a loud Lido deck party that could be heard clearly in our cabin, according to the boyfriend.

 

Next up is the final port of call, Freeport!

Edited June 9, 2015 by misstiffany

[islandatsea]

Great review........thanks for posting!

[rooster1961]

great post,thanks!

[NatalieWood]

I'd love to hear about Freeport! I'm going on this cruise soon.

[Jay Sam]

Thanks for the great review of Sunshine and this itinerary. I am hoping to take the same in Sep/Oct. The info on BCH in Nassau was great as well as your info on HMC. The photos of HMC were great. Thanks again.

[NCTribeFan]

Used to be that it seemed every cruise I was on stopped at Nassau and I'd intended to go to the BCH but just hadn't. And now, I've been on 5 straight cruises and none of them have called at Nassau!

 

I don't dislike either Nassau or Freeport. All my latest cruises have called at Grand Turk. I think I actually like Nassau more. At least you can get off the ship and wander around town. I detest the made-for-tourists ports.

 

Next time in Nassau, I'm definitely going to the BCH!

 

I'll be on Sunshine at the end of November - 11 nights from Port Canaveral to San Juan and we have 8 ports! I just have an inside down in the bowels of the ship, but that's fine with me. It's quiet down there. I don't count proximity to food as a good thing. And I take the stairs to walk off all those calories.

 

Looking forward to reading the rest. Thanks for taking the time.

[Jeafl]

Loving your review so far, I hope you are able to finish the rest! 😀

 

We are doing the Sunshine next March, but with a different itinerary. I would love to hear more about the different areas on the ship if you have time!

[amberdc87]

Love your report so far. Your report caught my eye because of your itinerary. We are stopping in Nassau and Freeport on our cruise in November. It's really hard to find reviews on those ports and even harder to find reviews from people that actually like it. BCH is a place on my list of considerations for Nassau, so thank you for that. Looks wonderful. I can't wait to hear about your Freeport excursion. Keep it coming. :)

[movingimages]

"I tried Cucina del Capitano's pasta bowl lunch option and it was fine, but nothing that made me want to pay extra for their food at dinner."

 

Can you comment a bit more on this? I thought this was a fee restaurant. Is it open sometimes for lunch without a fee (e.g. on sea days)? Thanks for any info you can provide.

Edited July 10, 2015 by movingimages

[dst]

"I tried Cucina del Capitano's pasta bowl lunch option and it was fine, but nothing that made me want to pay extra for their food at dinner."

 

Can you comment a bit more on this? I thought this was a fee restaurant. Is it open sometimes for lunch without a fee (e.g. on sea days)? Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

 

It is free for lunch and a charge at dinner - the dinner is much better than the lunch......

[trixiegal]

Nassau, Bahamas and The British Colonial Hilton

 

Thank you everyone for the nice replies! I wish I had been able to post this part up sooner but that little thing called work likes to get in the way!

 

I think I have been to Nassau three times before this trip (all via cruising), and I've never had the "worst port ever" experience that many on these boards speak of in regards to Nassau. I wasn't particularly wowed either. Memorable things I've done in Nassau before are a Stingray Excursion and walking all over town on a "self-guided walking tour" I found online - I thin it was Frommers. I took the Stingray Excursion through RCCL years ago and I'm not sure if it's still available, but it consisted of being picked up at the port by a small catamaran, going to a small private island, being given a bucket of fish heads and tossed in the water with stingrays. The fish heads were gross, the stingrays were large, and I think I poked one in the eye. The water was freezing in the winter and I might as well have been feeding seal parts to whales....so yeah, knew I didn't really want to do that again. The self-guided walking tour takes you to a few well known Nassau landmarks (including and it was completely safe, but not worth doing twice. If you chose to do it, be warned that there's a lot of stray, extremely skinny dogs running in packs all over Nassau. They're not aggressive, but will probably make your girlfriend, daughter, mother, or any puppy lovin' individual very sad. Other than that, I've gone to Junkanoo Beach and some of the aquariums at Atlantis. If you've gone to the Georgia Aquarium or Shedd, you probably won't be impressed with Atlantis's aquarium offerings, but it could be worth a look if you're there for something else. I thought Junkanoo Beach was perfectly fine as far as being a nice, sandy beach....but I could NOT STAND the constant harassment by vendors. Perhaps if the beach was longer it would not be as much of an issue, but I couldn't get past it. I've also gone to Senor Frogs multiple times...which is not always so memorable :cool:

 

This all brings me to the plans for Nassau for this cruise - The British Colonial Hilton (BCH). Gems like this place are where Cruise Critic really comes in handy. I simply spent a little time reading the Ports of Call section of the CC Boards and kept seeing the small, quiet BCH show up as a nice place to spend the day. Several others looked nice too, but the two main factors that pushed me to choose the BCH were 1) It's completely walkable from the cruise port and 2) your day pass gives you back some of your money in the form of a voucher that you can use on food or alcohol.

 

Pre-Booking the Day Pass: There are two ways you can reserve a day pass at the BCH and both cost exactly the same. One is through Resort For A Day Dot Com and the other is through Bahamas Cruise Excursions Dot Com. It's only $12 to reserve a day pass online, and you will pay the remainder ($48) when you arrive at the BCH. You'll pay the $48 directly to BCH so you won't need to stop anywhere first. My only advice would be to book a little early to make sure that you can get a day pass, especially if it's a holiday week/weekend or a popular time of the year for vacations. I'm hesitant to purchase to book any non- cruise line sponsored excursions way in advance, primarily because I know that the refund process will be harder than it is with the cruise line. Carnival, for example, lets you cancel and get a full refund for your excursion for any reason, at any time, leading up to the day of the excursion. You can request the refund online without any hassle. However, there's no guarantee of this for any outside vendors. For example, what if the weather forecast is looking awful? What if I break my leg a week before the cruise and decide to still go and just nurse the blues away at Senor Frogs (I know someone who did just this) ? Anyhow, this caused me to put off booking a day pass at BCH and by the time I went online to do, about a week before the cruise, one of the sellers was sold out! Luckily the other vendor had 2 passes available.

 

Getting there: I just wanted to throw this in there for those who may not have been to Nassau before. I had a good idea of where the BCH is, but if you're not sure...Google an image of the BCH before your trip and get a good idea of what the building look like. Then, just go on the top deck of your ship in the morning before you head into Nassau, and look for the building. IT'S THAT CLOSE. You'll see it and yes, the beach looks very tiny from your ship...but don't let that discourage you. After you've gotten a good idea of where the BCH is, just head in the direction of that building when you exit the port area. It's easily visible during the entire walk.

 

When you get to the BCH, you'll need to head to check-in just like a regular hotel guest. They were able to look me up by last name and I had to pay by Credit Card. I haven't seen any mysterious charges so I'll go ahead and say that went smoothly. After paying, you'll receive armbands and two vouchers - one for checking out towels and one for paying for your drinks and food. Then, you're free to head outside to their property.

 

For detailed pictures and descriptions, just look at Trip Advisor, which has plenty of reviews. The only things I'll throw in are my opinions... We were some of the first to arrive and the beach area was a mess when we got there. It literally looked like a storm or large party had overtaken the beach area the night before...no trash, but the lounge chair cushions were ALL over the beach, chairs were toppled over, tables and umbrellas turned over, etc. It didn't bother us, but I could see how some could be turned off. We simply tidied up a small area, plopped down our towels on chairs (we didn't bother renting towels) under an umbrella and RELAXED. If there's anything positive about the mess, it meant that the chairs weren't all crowded and shoved up next to each other like you might find at Grand Turk or at Carnival's island in Nassau (Balmoral Island).

 

I loved how quiet it was for the entire day... NO MUSIC at all. The only sounds were the waves and occasional ambulance siren (it is in the middle of a city after all). You might also hear the occasional hoot or holler from Senor Frogs, as well as drills for cruise ship crews (yes, it's that close to the ships) but it's not bad at all. WAY better than hearing "Who Let The Dogs Out?" or other bad songs of the 90s blaring in your ears all day. This place is also pretty self-service, which I appreciated. You won't have waiters coming up to you, but you'll get great service if you go to order drink or food from the bar (near the pool) and you're welcome to bring either back to your beach chair. The drinks and food are expensive, but we felt that the pass's $48 worth of food and drink per person was fulfilling. I had more pictures but they're stuck in the internal memory of my ancient Olympus Tough waterproof camera and I lost the connection cable...but here's what I found on my memory card:

 

 

 



 



 

 

We had to be back on board by 4 or 5pm, so I believe we probably left the BCH at around 2:30pm (after getting there at about 8:30a.m.) and felt the pass was worth it for that short time period. I can't think of any excursions that looked worthwhile in Nassau that cost a total of $60 per person and included alcohol. Plus, the hassle of not having to take a boat, taxi or bus anywhere was greatly appreciated by us. We even had enough time left with our day to stop at Senor Frogs. I think that going to Senor Frogs late in the day has several advantages : 1) if you get there early you'd probably be three sheets to the wind by afternoon and might miss the boat, 2) you won't be too drunk to laugh your ass off at all the people who DO fall into that category. :D Senor's is a little pricey, but me and my boyfriend tend to pick whatever yard drink looks like it has the most alcohol, AKA bang for your buck, and sip casually while observing the chaos around us.

 

That night back on board was uneventful, except for me getting seasick. I still contribute this to a certain factor, but it's nothing I could change. Every night we had dinner in the main dining room, which is on a low deck..deck 3 or 4? Every night, the dining room was shaking and rocking and rolling like a scene from Titanic was about to unfold. I put up with it the first few nights and was only mildly queasy. On this night, I suppose my stomach had all it could take and I only barely made it through dinner without humiliating myself (and probably looking like I had too much at Senor Frogs). I didn't even mention it during dinner as I kept telling myself I could get over it and be just as happy and smiling as everyone around me...but as soon as I made it back to the cabin...ugh. After expelling dinner, I was probably sleeping by 9:30 p.m. The only upside was that I got PLENTY of sleep and apparently missed a loud Lido deck party that could be heard clearly in our cabin, according to the boyfriend.

 

Next up is the final port of call, Freeport!

 

Please come back and finish! This is an AWESOME review. I always ignore cruises that go to the Bahamas because I feel like I've "been there, done that" but you made me look at it differently. I also need any excuse to book another Carnival cruise....