Sunrise - 14 Day Panama Canal

[Mklbee]

I've never really given a review before, but I received so much useful information from this board, I was going to try and give my opinion of the 14 day Panama Canal Cruise on the Carnival Sunrise. Its just my opinion, I know I wont satisfy everyone, but please ask me any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can. I will put in notes piece by piece. May take a while. Also, it looks like my pictures are too large. Sorry, thats how I sent them to myself. Will take too much work to redo them. Sorry again.

 

My wife and I flew to JFK on Saturday (cruise began Monday)..... We stayed at a Hilton in Times Square and went to see King Kong.

 

We left for Pier 90 around 11 am. Our Check in time was 12:30. We were Priority, so we got to walk right in after droping off our bags and go check in. We were at the Pier at 11:30, and at Guys Burger by 12:05.

 

[jimbo5544]

looking forward to your review, can you tell us what the issue with debarkation was, why it took so long?

[Mklbee]

DAY 1- 

The cruise was sold out many of you all know that many rooms were added to the then Triumph. 2 lifeboats were added to the Sunrise to accommodate the additional passengers. My wife and I were in Aft balcony room 8428. It was a last minute upgrade from interior room 9212.

After getting our food, it was a super challange to find a place to sit !!! We were on early, and it was really hard to find a seat. We wound up walking outside near the Seafood Shack to sit and eat. Not a big deal, but Ive always been able to sit near Guys to eat. Seemed to have limited seats for the amount of people.

Also, now you have to push a button for the doors to operate. First Ive seen this. I would call it an 'automatic door' ;), but thats how most of the Lido deck doors operate.

[Mklbee]

Just now, jimbo5544 said:

looking forward to your review, can you tell us what the issue with debarkation was, why it took so long?

Good question. I really dont know. I think we finally left New York around 5:45p. I was invited to a Captains Party, and left at 545 looking for my bags. I was told that there were many bags that were still not on the ship yet. I may not be like most, but I dont feel like im on vacation until I get my bags. I got my bags at 6:30p and the water I orders per cruise at 7:30. The casino was open at 730p.

[jimbo5544]

Just now, Mklbee said:

Good question. I really dont know. I think we finally left New York around 5:45p. I was invited to a Captains Party, and left at 545 looking for my bags. I was told that there were many bags that were still not on the ship yet. I may not be like most, but I dont feel like im on vacation until I get my bags. I got my bags at 6:30p and the water I orders per cruise at 7:30. The casino was open at 730p.

I meant when you got back to New York yesterday, we were getting on for a function and cruisers getting off took forever....

[Mklbee]

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

I meant when you got back to New York yesterday, we were getting on for a function and cruisers getting off took forever....

Oh, sorry. Heard there was a Helicopter crash that slowed things down a TON !!

[Mklbee]

3 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

I meant when you got back to New York yesterday, we were getting on for a function and cruisers getting off took forever....

Also, there were MANY MANY people with scooters, walkers and canes.

[Mklbee]

Day 1 cont......At the Premier Party, we were told that we could get free drinks every 5 minutes.

I think you could get money from a credit card without a fee. I wasn't listening very hard because I knew I wouldn't do it.

[Mklbee]

Day 2-

I don’t think that I had my Carnival Hub app updated. I was unable on my iPhone to make reservations for Your Time Dining. My wife's android app was able to get the job done.

The Ship was moving very smoothly

Anytime dining…reservation at 515 – told we had a seat at 525…seated at 530

Took 15 minutes for the order.

 

This may be the first ship I was on without mailboxes as well

All mail was stuck in between the room number plate and the siding of the door frame.

[Mklbee]

Sea brunch was very good. The omlettes are smaller, but you can get whatever you want. Many activities on the ship. Some corny, but the make up of the ship was very different than I have ever seen. I haven’t been on a ton of cruises (7) but still, I have never seen so many Diamond and Platinum Cruisers! Never have seen as many wheelchairs, walkers and scooters.

[JaniceB]

Great start to your review.  I didn't know they had Premier parties right away on a new ship.  Looking forward to the rest of your review.  Can you tell us your itinerary for this cruise?

[Mklbee]

3 minutes ago, JaniceB said:

Great start to your review.  I didn't know they had Premier parties right away on a new ship.  Looking forward to the rest of your review.  Can you tell us your itinerary for this cruise?

Sure, I posted it in the beginning, but I am happy to do it again.

[JaniceB]

I can't see the thumbnail, sorry.

[Mklbee]

No, Im sorry. Hows this?? Seems that all of my photos may not work.

[Jamman54]

Anxious to see what you thought of the ship. We are doing a B2B on her in September. Thanks for sharing! 😎

[Mklbee]

Can anyone see the pictures?

[Jamman54]

Only the one in post 14.

[rn4t5]

13 minutes ago, Mklbee said:

Can anyone see the pictures?

 

13 minutes ago, Mklbee said:

Can anyone see the pictures?

Only the last one showing your itinerary.

[Mklbee]

OK....sorry about that. Looks like I will have to redo all of the photos which will take some time. I will redo what I did before.

I've never really given a review before, but I received so much useful information from this board, I was going to try and give my opinion of the 14 day Panama Canal Cruise on the Carnival Sunrise. Its just my opinion, I know I wont satisfy everyone, but please ask me any questions and I will try to answer them as best I can. I will put in notes piece by piece. May take a while. Also, it looks like my pictures are too large. Sorry, thats how I sent them to myself. Will take too much work to redo them. Sorry again.

 

My wife and I flew to JFK on Saturday (cruise began Monday)..... We stayed at a Hilton in Times Square and went to see King Kong.

 

We left for Pier 90 around 11 am. Our Check in time was 12:30. We were Priority, so we got to walk right in after droping off our bags and go check in. We were at the Pier at 11:30, and at Guys Burger by 12:05

[Mklbee]

DAY 1- 

The cruise was sold out many of you all know that many rooms were added to the then Triumph. 2 lifeboats were added to the Sunrise to accommodate the additional passengers. My wife and I were in Aft balcony room 8428. It was a last minute upgrade from interior room 9212. 

I did experience a first. Our cabin steward, Paul did not know my name. Could have been because of the late switch, I dont know. After the first day, Paul was on top of it yelling my name every time he saw me! 😉

 

After getting our food, it was a super challange to find a place to sit !!! We were on early, and it was really hard to find a seat. We wound up walking outside near the Seafood Shack to sit and eat. Not a big deal, but Ive always been able to sit near Guys to eat. Seemed to have limited seats for the amount of people.

 

 

At the Premier Party, we were told that we could get free drinks every 5 minutes.

I think you could get money from a credit card without a fee. I wasn't listening very hard because I knew I wouldn't do it.

[Mklbee]

Day 2-

I don’t think that I had my Carnival Hub app updated. I was unable on my iPhone to make reservations for Your Time Dining. My wife's android app was able to get the job done.

The Ship was moving very smoothly

Anytime dining…reservation at 515 – told we had a seat at 525…seated at 530

Took 15 minutes for the order.

 

This may be the first ship I was on without mailboxes as well.

All mail was stuck in between the room number plate and the siding of the door frame.

[Mklbee]

Sea brunch was very good. The omlettes are smaller, but you can get whatever you want. Many activities on the ship. Some corny, but the make up of the ship was very different than I have ever seen. I haven’t been on a ton of cruises (7) but still, I have never seen so many Diamond and Platinum Cruisers! Never have seen as many wheelchairs, walkers and scooters.

It was wonderful to see as many well seasoned cruisers. But I will say, with the 'new' way to open the Lido doors, some pretty narrow walkways, getting around with some many passengers in wheel chairs, scooters, walkers, or with canes made things tough at times to get around.

[Mklbee]

On Day 4, we made it to Grand Turk. Id been there before and we were going to make sure we didn't go to Margaritaville. I Totally enjoyed being there the first time, but we spent too much time there and wanted to see more of the place. We did d the glass bottom boat! Ha!! OK...not the greatest excursion, but it was decent. They did give out a pretty strong Rum Punch, which helped me enjoy the trip !! We did see a few stingrays and maybe a decent sized fish or two. Id say that it was just nice to be in a boat cutting up with passengers from Carnival and the excursion crew.

We walked to Jacks Shack afterwards, and it was full. If you dont get there early, yu probably will not get a decent seat. We washed a bit and then took the walk back towards the port. Dead set on not going to Margaritaville, we ate at a place called Beached Whale. The food was pretty good, and, I think they are owned by Margaritaville !! HA ! Trick was on me.

[Mklbee]

So far on the cruise, I was really liking the Carnival Sunrise. Im not a big fan of having to push a button for the 'automatic' door. It was pretty funny watching folks walk up to the door thinking that the doors would open automatically. Some walked and pretty much put their nose to the door !!! Sorry, I had to entertain myself a few days. After day 3, the entire ship pretty much caught on. So, no major complaints at that time.

 

I will say that my wife and I are fast walkers, and we had to put the walking in a slower gear. So, I had to relax Mon.....let the coolness flow through my vertebrae and go with the flow. I do not want this to sound like a complaint, but there were a LOT of people getting around with assistance. It made for a different style of moving around for me. 

 

I did sign up for the whisky tasting master blender class. I will talk about that later. Sorry about the photos of the Fun Times. The pics look very blurry uploading them this way. Not sure what to do.

[sararebekahquinn]

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the rest of your review.