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On the Sunshine

Coastman

By Coastman,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Coastman

Coastman

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We decided to take our two boys on a surprise cruise. We drove a rental car from Shades of Green to the port. National did a great job running their free shuttles. there were four cruise ships leaving the same time. It took about an hour to get to Sunshine because of the line of vehicles.

We still made it within our window for boarding time. The people that were late or had no reservation had a longer, slower moving line. From the time of dropping our luggage to being on board was less than 20 mins.

We headed straight to deck 10 aft so the boys can ride the water slides.

 

The safety drill took quite some time. Mainly because of people not coming to muster stations. I was listening to the Officer reading the cabin numbers of people that didn’t scan in. There was a few people standing in our station that had to go out and scan their cards in because they forgot. Seriously we were there at least 45 mins. None of it Carnival’s fault.

 

In all the first day was great! We finished our evening watching” daddy’s home2” poolside. I’ve read reviews and boards a bunch prior to our sailing. I was honestly freaked out a little by some of the negative things. All I can say is Everyone has their own opinion.

 

I came up to the lido deck this morning at 0800, with my Americano in hand. I wanted to watch the pool chair issues unfold. There was only a few held (by towels and potato chip clips)by that time. I found four chairs right at the top of the stairs by the Blue Iguana. There are still two chairs held next to me with nobody in them at 1000. We’ll see how long it goes. All the chairs that I can see are pretty much held now.

 

I’ll be on every morning catching up on questions if you all have any. Let me put this out there though. I haven’t cruised in 8 years. We have kids now and a different perspective. I drink Woodford reserve now, not tequila. Haha. Oh, that reminds me of the only issue so far. Last night the wife and I checked out the Red Frog Rum bar. The bartender had a personality flaw. I ordered a Woodford and wife a water. ( we have cheers). He put the receipt and a pen in front of me with our drinks. We discussed the bartenders issue for awhile. I lined out the extra tip line and the total which was 0.00. He came by and picked up the receipt and looked at it. He stood by the other end of the bar and never talked to us again. But....... the story is not done.

 

I opened my account this morning and see a $1.00 xtra tip from my account on that charge. I already brought the issue up to customer service. Everyone purchasing cheers already pays a 15% gratuity. I’m going to asses if it’s automatically expected by servers to get additional tips. (I gave our sail away server 6.00 because her great personality.) I know a lot of boards had back and fourth discussion about it. I have no experience on it.

Edited by Coastman
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Coastman

Coastman

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Our checking was at 12:30-2:00 because we waited so long to do the electronic registration and docs from home. If there are four ships in that day leaving it will be madness. I would give an hour just to be safe from arriving the port until parking and walking in the terminal.

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Coastman

Coastman

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Another great day yesterday. We all did the water slides, mini golf, and arcade yesterday. Guys burgers are legit. We also tried the Cucina Italian restaurant. It was worth every dollar. Great atmosphere, and service. We met the Captain and spoke with him for a few minutes. He ate at the table next to us.

 

I came out to the pool at 0645 this morning and was only able to find three chairs next to the DJ booth. Every chair including the serenity deck was taken. I was lucky to have found these. At 0645? I see peoples complaint now.

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Coastman

Coastman

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I’ve been going to the java blue place every morning and asking them. I honestly didn’t even look at the menu. The ladies working there are very nice.

We are eating at the steakhouse on Friday. I’m not sure if there was a menu change. I had steak and eggs this morning at sea day brunch. The best I’ve had in a long time.

The rooms are nice. I bought a multi plug with USB’s for the wall after reading some reviews which has come in handy. There’s plenty of storage,beds are comfortable and showers are a good size. I’m looking forward to Aruba tomorrow, we booked Jolly Pirates on our own. We’ll see how that goes.

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CruisingMainer

CruisingMainer

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Following along! We are leaving on this same itinerary on April 14. We, too, are traveling with two boy -- our son and his best friend. Can't wait to hear about Jolly Pirates, as we booked the sunset cruise! I'm honestly having a hard time keeping focused on my work.

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Coastman

Coastman

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The past few days have been great. You all have a great trip coming up with this itinerary. First, Aruba is beautiful. We did our own excursion with the Jolly Pirate. We found a cutout next to the stairs on deck 2 that go right down to the gangway. We waited there until we heard the radio call for them to “ let them go” we went around the corner and down the stairs to zero deck. We were first off the ship at 1145. Yes, the captain got us into port really early. The 4 of us jumped in a cab which was right outside the port building. I’d say we made it to Mumba (sp?)beach in 15 mins. The cab cost $14 total. He dropped us at the Holiday Inn resort. We walked through the resort to the beach and turned right, I’d say it was a 1/4 mile walk to the Mumba beach bar. The check-in for Jolly Pirate is right in front of that bar if your walking away from the ocean,

We were way early so we head some great nachos, wings and beers at the bar while the boys played in the ocean. The beach was super soft white sand. No water shoes necessary.

Jolly pirate was a great trip. The 60ft deep snorkel at the shipwreck freaked out my youngest son and wife. They went back in the boat because it was to deep. My 13 son stayed out with me, we got to see 1,000s of fish and 1 sea turtle. The second snorkel stop was closer to shore and only about 6-15 feet deep. Everyone enjoyed that. We also did the rope swing there. The whole Family did it about 5 Times. It was a blast. Especially after the Pirates punch. I saw the sunset people lined up to get on when we pulled in. They were already having a good time. There is great tunes on the boat but the toilet not so much. Haha plan accordingly. Next ...Bonaire

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Whenisdinner

Whenisdinner

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I'm sailing on the Sunshine for the first time next month. I can't wait. Did you notice whether or not they had the new steakhouse menu yet? Thanks.

 

No. I am also on the Sunshine. Just talked to the Steakhouse Maitre D' and looked at the menu. They have the old menu, and do not expect to get the new one until around June.

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Coastman

Coastman

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Well, there was a substantial amount of partying the last two days which caused a delay in continuing my posts. Back to where I left off.

Bonaire was a great island. We again ventured off on our own. There was a change of plans from doing our own Klein Bonaire snorkel trip because kids and wife felt like they did enough snorkeling the day before. (Being a smart man I didn’t argue). We got off the ship a little late because of my wife and kids not wanting to get out of bed. I rushed over to the Bonaire Cruisers tent to see if they had any golf carts still available. Thank god they had a cancelation. Right when you get off the ship and go through the “security gate” there is a bunch of soccer type canopies set up on the street. Several of the tour companies I have read good reviews on had available spots. Bonaire Cruisers was at the far end.

Once they confirm your spot you have to walk to their actual business location to get the golf carts.(Less then a half mile). The paperwork was an easy process. We rented a few snorkels from them as well . The cart was $90 plus $100 deposit which was refunded at the end. snorkels were $10 each. They will give you a map and show you points of interest if you ask. I read that the southern end of the island was the least congested and had great things to check out. If you take the south road you will see the airport, salt operation, slave huts, flamingos and run right into the Sorobon Beach resort. We also stopped at a few small beaches. One called pinks beach I wish I would have snorkeled at for a little but I didn’t bring my water shoes. Every snorkel place we stopped at had rocky type entries. Make sure you bring some!

We first stopped at the Jibe City beach bar area. We saw a whole bunch of activity there. It was seriously like half the carnival ship was there. It’s a great location and the bar was cool but it was to packed for me. We loaded up and went to the first place we past the Sorobon Bay beach resort. We went onto the property through the gate and said we were interested in having lunch AKA, hanging out at the beach and using the facility as well. The lunch was great just slow island time service. The special was fresh wahoo ceviche for $15. Man it was good. I also tried their local beer which was great.

Sorobon Bay is a serious wind surfing destination. There really wasn’t any snorkeling to be had there but the water was shallow for like a half mile out. The most amazing color water. We waded out and watched the wind surfers. Very few rocks out there but you still should wear shoes. The beach bar and umbrellas were sufficient and there was 1/16th of the people that were 500 yards up the beach. The others bars looked fun but I just don’t like being jammed in. We stayed there until about 1:30 and headed back towards the ship. We took a very direct route past some kind of burro sanctuary but only saw one. Haha.

Driving the cart was pretty easy. I just pulled over when I saw cars coming if the road was narrow. The main thing is everyone in the family had a blast. After returning the cart, We finished up the day shopping at some of the vendor tents right outside the dock. The boys voted that they like Bonaire equally as Aruba.

We are just getting ready to board our flight back home. I’ll continue with Grand Turk next.

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