Journey of a Lifetime - 11 Night Sunshine November 2015

[vamartha]

We’ve just returned from the first leg of the Carnival Sunshine Journey’s Cruise, from Port Canaveral to San Juan! I’m so jealous of those still onboard and doing the last 10 days from San Juan to Port Canaveral, they have one more sea day than we did and they also get to visit Martinique! Over 600 of the pax were doing the B2B!

 

Our portion had two sea days, far too few for an 11 day cruise, but hey, you take what you can get! We visited Grand Turk, St. Thomas, Tortola, St. Kitts, Dominica, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Croix and San Juan. Our sea days were day one and day three. You will get the report from all but St. Lucia because as much as I think I’m invincible, by St. Lucia I was totally beat and needed a rest day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

Your participants are me, Martha and I’m 56 and my DH, Charlie and he’s 62. We aren’t platinum, we aren’t fancy and we aren’t uppity (boy, we saw some uppity on this cruise)! We like to have fun, we love to see new places and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We try and cruise once a year in the fall. I took over 1200 pictures and a few videos and I’ll include some of them here!

 

This was my sixth cruise and Charlie’s fifth. They have all been on Carnival. I’ve sailed on the Holiday, Triumph, Legend, Breeze, Dream and now Sunshine. In that order. I resisted the Sunshine at all costs, as I thought I wasn’t interested in a twenty year old ship after sailing on the Breeze and the Dream. I was wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong. You have to look hard to see that it is an older ship. More on that later. On to the review!

[vamartha]

Way back in April I was looking for a cruise. St. Marteen is way up there on my bucket list, since I’d seen a video of the planes landing beside Maho Beach years and years ago. We’d pretty much settled on an 8 day on the Breeze and I was about to hit submit when I checked my offers again! Much to my surprise there was an 11 day Journey’s Casino offer for less money than the 8 day. It didn’t include St. Marteen, but out of the 9 ports, I’d only been to one, Grand Turk. Great, Grand Turk is an easy low cost beach day (if you don’t drink at Margaritaville) and I love their pool! OK, click on Book Now and we’re off!

 

I’m a planner and a researcher. I always thoroughly research our ports and prebook excursions, off ship of course! Suddenly I’m faced with 8 ports to research and I’m used to about three or four! Eight? After researching for about 60 days, it all becomes a bit much and I sort of check out on booking excursions and all the St. Islands were running together! I only prebooked Antigua and in hindsight I wish I hadn’t have prebooked at all. I had read here that you could get tours on each island for about $25 a person and that is correct. About ½ of the online prices and there wasn’t an issue at any of the islands. Seriously, just walk off and you’ll be offered a plethora of options, all for a very reasonable price. We weren’t disappointed with any of our choices and it was so amazingly affordable.

[vamartha]

I have a problem! It is booking flights way too early in the mornings! I get so excited to get booked that I don’t remember that it is 45 minutes to the airport, you have to park and be there two hours in advance (and the news was reporting two and a half due to the increased security after the Paris attacks) and that means a 7am flight requires a 3am alarm. One of these days I’ll learn! Realistically, no I won’t!

 

So the day after Thanksgiving we get up at 3am and gather things, hop in the car and head to the airport in Charlotte. Our flight was Charlotte to Atlanta and then to Orlando. After a nerve wracking 35 minutes between flights in Atlanta (I really have an issue with booking airline tickets, 35 minutes in Atlanta, more proof that I am certifiably insane) we fly into Orlando. I’d booked Radisson at the Port and also prebooked a shuttle through them. It saved about $10 or $15 and went smooth as glass. We only had to wait about 10 minutes at the Airport. They use Cocoa Beach Shuttles, no issues at all.

 

I’d stay at the Radisson again, but I might try another hotel first. It was a bit high for an off beach hotel of its age, but it was adequate and the pool is pretty neat! Great for kids, a nice Tiki bar and close to the ship. It is older but the rooms were nicely remodeled, the only drawback was the teeny bathrooms. We stay at the Holiday Inn at the Port in Miami and if you’ve ever stayed there, you know it is overpriced. The Radisson in Port Canaveral is a better value.

 

Our shuttle driver had a reverse Trump combover!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

We used Uber to get to Publix for wine, soda and snacks and to get to the port. About $7 for Publix and about $10-12 to the port. Radisson offers a free shuttle but with FTTF we just used an Uber. I do that again in a heartbeat!

 

Port Canaveral is a pretty easy port. We checked in and then waited. There were tons of Platinum and Diamonds. No weddings that I know about and under 100 kids. So while we had FTTF (yes, I would still buy it, if for no other reason for the access to the faster line at Guest Services) it still took a while to board.

 

Soon enough we were on and the vacation has begun! 11 nights! WooHoo, this is gonna be fun! We blast through the heavy doors and drop our bags in the cabin! I’ll go ahead and address our cabin right here. 9188 on Lido deck. Perfectly located, right at the elevator as we prefer! And right on Lido, just steps from Guys, bars, an outdoor movie theater! When we get back on ship we’ve learned that if you walk up two decks, the glass elevators are empty because everyone else is trying to get back on from Deck 0. We’ve chosen this location the last three cruises. Modern cabin, looks exactly like the ones on both the Dream and the Breeze. The Dream still had a cathode ray TV but the Sunshine had flat panel. No fridge. No bedside tables. Well, that is a lie, there was one. It was located under the vanity, where the fridge would usually be! I’m not sure there would have been enough room beside the bed anyway, I really don’t think there was.

 

Our steward was fine! Always greeted us by our name. The balcony was exactly as I expected. Two blue chairs and a little metal table! Now, remember we are right outside the elevators. Noise had never been a problem in this location on Dream class ships, BUT if you are someone who didn’t like noise, I wouldn’t book right here. It didn’t bother me, I have Ambien and earplugs plus a TV but for noise sensitive, complaining types, the fun coming from the Atrium would have been bothersome. Jamie Dee (or Miss High Heels as we came to refer to her as – how the hell does she stay in those stilettos hour after hour day after day???????) likes to have a party in the Atrium – and a party she does throw! She’s a good CD! I don’t know how she goes and goes and goes, but she does! She’s as good as Matt Mitchum, they tie for my favorites – followed by Wee Jimmy!

[pirate4me2]

Great start!! I am anxiously reading yours and NCTribe's reviews as we are on a Journeys cruise in March. I can't wait!!!

[morningstarme]

Subscribed. Thank you for taking the time to do your review. We will be on the 13 day Journey cruise on the Sunshine in February. Looking forward the the rest of your review.

[Jeafl]

Can't wait to read the rest! We're only doing an 8-day in March--I'm jealous of your 11 days!

[SugarStar00]

Sailed with you, interested in reading your point of view. Looks like maybe I won't need to write a review now...

[vamartha]

Sailed with you, interested in reading your point of view. Looks like maybe I won't need to write a review now...

 

Oh please do! It is nice to see things through different eyes!

[vamartha]

We had an OK burger from Guy’s and the best fries in the world, gathered up a drink and settled in! Charlie went to book the Behind the Scenes tour (in the end, he canceled) and I went to Guest Services to apply my Gift Cards. I had a nice surprise as I recognized a former Guest Services desk rep, who now is a more Senior Officer, we have been friends on that other social media site for about 4 years, keeping up with each other. I didn’t know she was on the Sunshine as she’d kept it a secret since she’d begun her last contract and she doesn’t use the other site while on the ship. We had a great reunion, her fiancé is also an officer on the ship and we met with them several times. Once for dinner in JiJi’s and once for a long chat in the Library. It was so nice to see her!

 

 

 

[vamartha]

Can’t say we did much on either sea day. Mostly I hang out in the smoking area up on deck 10 and Charlie sort of wanders around or finds a place to watch TV. It is like a fraternity up on deck 10. Everyone is so friendly, we all have at least one thing in common and there is almost always some up there round the clock! That being said, on the Dream you are on Deck 11 and can oversee everything going on from the Lido, deck parties, movies, hairy chest competition, etc. On the Sunshine you are further down the deck, isolated and can’t see anything other than beautiful scenery and other smokers. I did sort of feel left out, on the Dream I felt so much like we weren’t missing any action but on Sunshine I felt like I missed most of it. Just preferred the smoking area on Dream over the Sunshine. Not complaining, didn’t detract from my overall cruise! And while I’m on the smoking issue – ashtrays were like gold. Not kidding. Way more smokers than ashtrays, both on Deck 10 and in the casino.

[vamartha]

Grand Turk was a very nice day! We started at the pool but the buildings were blocking the breeze. We ended up on a couple of chairs at the far end on the beach but before the day was over we worked our way back to the pool for a great swim! I love that pool! Remember, we didn’t have many kids so the pool felt more like a pool at an adult all-inclusive than it would have in the summer or Spring Break. The HAL Westerdam was also in port and that ship isn’t known for having a lot of kids anyway! It was nice and relaxing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

Below in the center of the pic is a drone. The video staff was working on a commercial for Carnival and were working from the small wooden pier. It was pretty cool to watch and I've got some good video of it, if I ever figure videos out, I'll post it, if not, I'll just include links later! Speaking of video, the fellow who hosts the videos for the Vista build was also on board with his family.

 

 

 

[vamartha]

St. Thomas was up next. We wandered around a bit when we first got there, in and out of a few stores and then we found a tour on an open air taxi for $20 each. Well worth the price, good guide and we hit all the highlights. We stopped to view the ship from the lookout, stopped at a few other lookouts and went to a shopping complex at the top of the mountain looking out over Magen’s Bay. It was closed the day we were there, they had had a lot of rain and they had closed it for the day due to runoff. What a beautiful day! St. Thomas was the first of a lot of beautiful scenery we’d see over the next 7 days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

There were also two ships at the other pier. It was a busy day in St. Thomas, five ships! Us, Freedom of the Seas, Regal Princess, Westerdam and Eurodam!

 

[vamartha]

I’m a snorkel freak and Tortola came through for me! We’d originally planned to go to Cane Garden Beach based upon our St. Thomas driver’s recommendation, he was from Tortola. But when we arrived the girl dispatcher for the taxi’s recommended Brewer’s Bay Beach for good snorkeling. Boy, she knew what she was talking about! To get anywhere in Tortola requires a nerve wracking drive over some really steep roads.

 

We hopped into a van with about three other couples and began the drive! At times we thought we’d have to push! First gear up the mountain and this little van was struggling! Really struggling! But the views were simply amazing! Finally we arrived at Brewer’s Bay, a beautiful place! Lots of beach space, lots of natural shade and very few people! The snorkeling was fantastic! The reef is shallow in most places and I saw my first octopus and sea cucumber. And for a while we followed a sea turtle! The water was calm and just as good for swimming as snorkeling! I describe this day as heaven on earth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

 

For good snorkeling choose the left side of the beach and head out.

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

The pier has a few stores open now but not many. It will be nice when they get it finished.

 

 

 

The water color was just incredible! I took this off the ship!

 

[vamartha]

[pirate4me2]

Wow, Tortola looks awesome. I need to book a cruise with a stop there!

[jjdshoe]

How much did the airport shuttle run you through the Raddisson?

[vamartha]

I’m just going to insert some general cruise thoughts here, since I jumped right in there with the review. The food was ok. I’m not so much a fan of the MDR, takes too long for the just OK food. If it was knocking my socks off every night, then yes, but it just doesn’t so we just went the first three nights and one other. I am a fan of Guys, the fries are dynamite and I don’t eat fries much in real life, so that was always a treat. I love the deli and had several sandwiches from there. We ate at Cucina and it was good and we also ate at JiJi’s and I’d like to repeat that! I liked it. We usually do at least one night in the Steakhouse, but we didn’t this time. Lido was adequate. Not knock your socks off either, but adequate and was a much easier experience than the MDR. Charlie had a lot of pizza, I have to admit, I didn’t have a single slice. Every morning we did eat from the lido and most always brought it back to the cabin.

 

I didn’t find the ship overly crowded as most of the complaints I’ve read. Sure, it bunched up a bit on Lido at the Drink stations, but no biggie. I never thought the casino was overcrowded. I just didn’t get the crowding thing. Maybe with 1000 kids but I just never thought it was an issue. We were mostly off the ship with so many port days in a row.

[vamartha]

How much did the airport shuttle run you through the Raddisson?

It was $50 for two.