Not so much sunshine on the Sunshine 1/13

[topofE]

This is my first ever review so go easy on me. :)

 

The boring intro stuff:

This is my 6th cruise, my dad's 5th, and my daughter's 4th. We booked this cruise probably a year in advance at least. I do early saver and then watch the prices for price matches to make sure I get the best fare.

 

Our recent cruises have been on the Dream out of New Orleans. My first ever cruise was on the Destiny in 2000 so I was looking forward to seeing her all shiny and spiffy. Plus, we have been wanting to try the Guy's Burger Joint so when we saw a good price we jumped on it.

 

We ended up getting no price matches. In fact, our cruise sold out months and months in advance. We booked a lido deck balcony. We had done cove balconies on the Dream and my dad insisted on getting a Lido deck balcony on this cruise to be close to the action.

 

However. At 1200 the day before. Literally 24 hours prior to embarkation, the upgrade fairy called! Or should I call her the upsell fairy? She offered us the grand suite, in the exact center of the ship for $1200 more. If it were 2 of us, I'd have said no probably. But for three of us, the extra space sounded too good to pass up. So we upgraded!

 

Our flight was scheduled for 730am on Friday the 13th. Arriving in Orlando around 10am. On Thursday they cancelled just about every school in the STL area because of an oncoming icepocolypse. It was scheduled to start at 8am so you can imagine our angst while waiting to board the plane!

 

However, we made it out safe and sound on Southwest.

 

Arrived in Orlando on time, got out luggage, went downstairs and realized that although we had discussed shuttles, neither me or my dad had booked any! We both assumed that the other had taken care of that detail!

 

I went to the USO and got on their computer (my cell coverage in that airport was hideous!) and saw that NO ONE offered same day shuttles besides Carnival for whatever expensive price they offer...$35 each maybe?

 

Ended up calling Cortrans Shuttle and the guy on the phone was great. $20/each and they would swing around and pick me up right where the USO was in a couple minutes. So we were off!

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45 minutes or so later we arrived at the terminal. Word of advice, know which cruise terminal you are leaving from because for some reason all of the transportation people we talked to acted like we were morons for not just introducing ourselves with that crucial piece of information.

 

"Which terminal?"

"Carnival"

"*exasperated sigh* WHICH Carnival?"

"Carnival Sunshine"

"Yeah, we don't do same day shuttles there, you needed to book in advance."

"Okay, do you do same day shuttles to the other terminals there?"

"*eyes rolling up to heaven* No"

 

 

BUT, The cortrans guy was great.

 

So we arrived, porters took our bags. We had it down to 3 smallish suitcases and my backpack and that was it. I carried on my backpack and gave the guy $5. Since we were in a suite, the fairy who called us cancelled my fttf (she insisted it wasn't needed). We went up to the priority check in and it was smooth as butter. I assume that at that later hour, it would've been smooth no matter what. In fact, we went to the line to get in, showed her our passports and the lady made us get out of her "line"and go to the priority side. So we got out, walked down two more doors and got the same response. Left that one, went down 2 more doors and Bingo! We were in and able to walk through the line marker things past the other two ladies who also had no one at all in their lines. In other words, the terminal was totally empty. Went up to the priority checkin where we were the only ones. They couldn't find our room keys. The guy who had cancelled the day prior still had keys but not us. No big deal. They went and printed us off a couple more, signed the paper saying none of us are pregnant and haven't been sick and hopped right onto the ship in no time!

Edited January 30, 2017 by topofE

[topofE]

THE

SUITE

WAS

GORGEOUS.

 

We got to our room, dropped our bags and went up to the Lido to check out the buffet. The kid had a pizza and my dad and I did a grilled cheese. May as well get those items checked off our checklist of must do cruise things. Pizza was great, sandwich was great. Both lines were short and fast...yet slow at the same time. Like they moved through the lines quickly, and there were maybe half a dozen people in each. Yet it seemed like it took forever. Then the fun part. The three of us walked around looking for a table. Any table. Carrying our food. Stomaches growling. We tried the left side, the right side, outside by the pool/bars, back to the Havana bar that I always read on here was a little secret spot. There was not one table empty. I finally found 2 people sitting at a large table and just asked if we could crash their party. It makes sense. Most people can't go to their rooms so where are they going to congregate besides the chairs and tables?

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Now that the risk of starvation had passed we went to go really check out our rooms and unpack. Met our room steward. I really wish I could remember his name. I would guess and be pretty close but I don't want to take the chance of calling him something offensive on accident! Plus, he is taking off for the next four months since his wife is having a baby so ya'll can't have him anyway. But he and his assistant were the best we've ever had.

 

I took a shower to wash the airplane funk off me and the shower was amazing. I don't know if it was the Sunshine, or deck 7, or the suite or what but that shower had great water pressure. I loved it. I loved it so much I was afraid that I was going to miss the muster call and end up getting to know our steward too well when he came looking for me!

 

Luckily, no one had to bust in on me in the shower. Got dressed and it was muster time. Sunshine does the "bad" kind of muster where you have to go stand outside for 20 minutes heel to toe and try not to catch any germs and stay within the yellow lines. Ugh. I much prefer sitting in an air conditioned dining room. By the time muster is over I think that 1/4 of the people feel ill from standing in the heat so still like that.

[cruise pup]

Glad you found Cortrans for your transfer. Jaime, the owner is the best. Very accommodating. This is a family run business and all of them are great.

[jimbo5544]

Good start, all appears to he shining so far.....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone

Edited January 30, 2017 by jimbo5544

[teknoge3k]

Good start!

[Eggs And Bacon]

I was on that sailing too! I'm glad you had water pressure. We had an interior and an ocean view room on deck 2 and there was zero water pressure.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[S&DMOM]

Thx for the review.

[riclop]

Sounds like a bad weather cruise.

[easyboy]

Nice start. Following.

[Micahs Grandad]

the suspense is building:)

[KPfromCT]

Great start! Cannot wait to read more!:D

[RW20]

I was on this cruise too! Had a great time with a group of friends and family.

[cloudninecat]

Nice start. Waiting to see what rained on your sunshine.

[mabones]

So far, so good! Will be on the Sunshine end of March. I also booked with Cortrans for our shuttle from Orlando to Port Canaveral.

[Jamericannn]

I d use that $120 and book another cruise but that's just me :)

Nice review going on your first attempt. Keep it going.

[Micahs Grandad]

Hoping the OP comes back

[topofE]

Sorry I got so distracted looking for my next cruise that I forgot I left off on day 1 here!

 

 

So, during the muster, it started pouring down rain. We were under the deck so we stayed dry but it still put a little damper on our cruise kickoff for sure!

 

Once muster was over we went checked into camp Carnival. My kid turned 10 two days before the cruise so she was really looking forward to being able to check herself in and out of camp. (It starts at age 9 btw but she didn't know that last year!). Of course the camp was closed but we got to walk around it and see if it looked like a fun space. It was definitely smaller than the Dream's cc. But the tvs, video games, toys, etc all looked to be in great condition and the kid was excited.

 

Time for our first official meal! Of course we chose the much heralded Guy's Burger! I had the Cheeseburger with no onions and fries. I had them put on the donkey sauce, then I added ketchup and mustard and pretty much just made a huge mess of a burger. It was...good. But not great. I honestly didn't see a big difference between this burger and the burger that we get from the regular Lido deck grill on other ships. They brought out the patties like 12 on a big metal tray. It was a good burger. But my expectations from reading other reviews was that Guy's alone would make or break a cruise and that we were really missing out by not having one on prior cruises. I think I was picturing flame grilled burgers (which makes sense that there wouldnt be open flames but still). The fries were good but not great. Me and my dad decided that the bacon patty part must be the key and next time we would try that.

 

I went upstairs to smoke (only on the right side 10th deck outside towards the back and the casino on this ship). I was fine with the locations. My family doesn't smoke and I have been "quitting" for years so I don't need it to be any more convenient. I did find it odd that just about the only way to get to the kid's clubs was to walk past that smoking area though.

 

*TMI AHEAD TMI AHEAD TMI AHEAD SKIP TO THE NEXT PORTION IF YOU DON'T CARE TO HEAR ABOUT THE SPECIFICS OF THE AFTERMATH OF GUY'S*

 

After smoking I RAN to the bathroom. There is one conveniently located outside the kid's clubs. It hit me like a brick. Or should I say, it hit me like a waterfall. It was bad. I used the toilet brush to clean up after myself it was so bad. So far, this cruise isn't getting off to the best start! In the interest of sparing most people from reading about it in other posts I will say that it hit me again an hour later, and once in the morning and then not again the rest of the cruise. Who knows if it was something I brought from the plane or anxiety from all the travelling or from the burger but either way, it ended up being just fine :)

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We ended that night pretty early. Our early morning start and the stress of travelling and the on again off again rainy weather was enough to convince us to call it a night early. Our room steward had asked my dad if we wanted morning or evening service. He said morning but I flagged him down and said that while we didn't need turn down service, the kid NEEDED a towel animal. I wasn't sure if he caught it all but my family is big on going with the flow so we weren't too worried. When we got to our room, the beds were turned down, the animal was there and we slept soundly while the boat rocked us to sleep.

 

Oh yeah, my dad snores like a ship's foghorn (and unsubstantiated claims that I inherited that trait have been passed around) so he bought some homeopathic snoring pills (I will look up the name if anyone is interested). You chew one and then half an hour later chew a second one and go to bed. I also had bought a pack of 40 earplugs from walmart so I was prepared.

 

Spoiler alert: if the snoring pills helped, I didn't notice it. The earplugs were a must have though!

[topofE]

We also put out our breakfast room service card. Bagel, cereal, pot of coffee, tomato juice, and a banana. Just a little snack before we go hit the real breakfast!

 

Our food came exactly on time at like 6am. My dad, rather than drinking his coffee on the balcony and letting us sleep in decided to veer from the plan and wake us up at 6am as well.

 

The bagel was slightly toasted maybe. But cold and with super cold butter so not really a breakfast of champions. I hated to waste it but bacon was calling my name and cold butter on a cold bagel just wasn't cutting it.

 

The buffet was exactly how I hoped it would be. The bacon was better than on prior cruises. Crispy. Still thin...but that just makes me feel better about eating 7836 pieces. I also got that banana bread type thing. It is dark brown. By the croissants. I don't know if it IS banana bread but it is like my second favorite thing to eat on cruises and it did NOT disappoint. Already I am mad and regretful of every morning that I am NOT eating that bread now. And the bacon? oh man that was good. The eggs were inedible. I don't care for powdered eggs (who does?) but still can put some away. But these were powdered AND runny so just not my cup of tea. My dad went to the Havana bar and got 2 eggs over easy and said that they were perfect and he loved them. The kid ate cereal and milk. We drank a lot of juice. (For those that don't know, juice is only available at breakfast. And tomato juice is only from room service (and the dining room I believe?))

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We went out to the Lido after breakfast. THis was a sea day so we were looking forward to tanning the midwest off of us. But it rained. And it was SO WINDY. The boat was REALLY rocking. At the time we wondered if we were going super fast (that happened on a dream cruise once due to an emergency and the boat was rocking all over the place) or if it was super windy or if it was because it was a smaller ship. Once it stopped raining we got good seats by the pool and laid out only to have it start raining again.

 

Went upstairs to smoke. On the Dream, the smoking section is right there above the pool on the same side. On the sunshine it is further back by the engine (is that the engine?) and it is LOUD. And away from any action. It was definitely not a spot to just hang out and play cards like so many did on the Dream in the smoking section. On the other hand, you didn't have to worry about ash drifting to the people below who were eating. But we also didn't get any drink service back there where the outcasts hang out. It was definitely a "smoke and get out" spot and not a hang out. Also, did I mention it was windy? Super windy. Like "borrow someone else's cigarette to light yours because no lighter is working up there" windy.

[topofE]

Breakfast out of the way it was time to go explore the ship. We all showered, got dressed, picked up the crap that had exploded from our suitcases and went down to deck 5. Shops were the same as every other ship. Casino was the same. The bar section was smaller. On the Sunshine the smoking section is 1/3 of the bar area and the tables section (and all of the slots or just the left half?) No chairs by the bar like on the Dream.

 

The arcade.

The kid and I discussed that this time she could get a daily "allowance" and it had to go towards ALL her snacks, sodas, games, and souvenirs. I went to the VIP service desk and asked them to put a spending limit on hers. (Is it tacky to say on here how much?). In vague terms, we had decided on a daily limit but they told me that the only way to do that was to come down every day and add it. Otherwise I had to do it for the whole week. So we did that. She was so excited to be able to spend her own money. I was excited to not get asked for her to get every single thing that she spied out of the corner of her eye.

 

We went to the arcade she saw some Jurassic Park shooting game. It was $1.25 each (2 people can play). SO not too bad. The problem was that it was one of those games where there is a story line and you end up having to swipe your card several times to continue the story or else lose all your progress. I had a feeling that a large marjority of her money would be spent on this one game.

[topofE]

Went back up to the Lido. Raining.

Went back to the room to torture the poor child with homework. The sun came out.

Back upstairs. Rain.

Back down to do homework. Sun.

This time we brought the homework upstairs with us. Rain again.

 

Time to get take a pizza break. Margherita pizza for me, pepperoni for the kid. Cheese for dad. It was delicious. Just like we remembered.

 

For extra measure I had a salad. It was good. I don't care for their cheese though. What kind of cheese is that? It is 2 white ones and 1 orange one cubed. I think one is swiss cheese. I assumed one was cheddar. I LOVE cheese but they left a strange aftertaste in my mouth. Maybe it was just me though. I remember way back in the way back when they had sliced cheese and I think I preferred that so I could make my little cheese sandwiches with their little hard dinner rolls. I thought they just weren't on the dream but it appears as though it is fleetwide.

[topofE]

I am going to pause here so I can dig out my funtimes and make sure I am not forgetting anything! Thanks for everyone who is reading. I promise it won't be so boring once I get my pics and funtimes up and ready!