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Currently on the Sunshine

Gettys84

By Gettys84,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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caryatid

caryatid

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We are going to be on the Sunshine next month!  What was your check-in time?  We got 12-12:30, but I'm hoping to be on the ship as soon as possible.  We live outside of Charlotte, so we'll be driving in that morning.  I'd rather get their early and wait, if there was the potential to get on a little early.  I can't wait for this vacation, my DH and I really need some down time!

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Gettys84

Gettys84

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13 minutes ago, caryatid said:

We are going to be on the Sunshine next month!  What was your check-in time?  We got 12-12:30, but I'm hoping to be on the ship as soon as possible.  We live outside of Charlotte, so we'll be driving in that morning.  I'd rather get their early and wait, if there was the potential to get on a little early.  I can't wait for this vacation, my DH and I really need some down time!

We had the same boarding window. We got to the port to park at 10:30. We were on the ship at 11:20!  Loving this ship so far. Let us know if you have any other questions. 

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Gettys84

Gettys84

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Have been exploring the ship tonight. Will post dinner pictures later tonight or in the morning. Went and played Craps and Blackjack for a little while bc the smoke wasn’t too bad in the casino. Stopped by the skybox sports bar and they do have the gamecock Kentucky game on!  At the welcome aboard show right now.  Cruise director just said they have NFL Sunday ticket for tomorrow. That’s pretty cool

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Gettys84

Gettys84

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8 hours ago, Debra Lynn said:

Will be on Sunshine in December Journey Cruise... cannot wait.. so excited to see your pictures... We are staying in Charleston a couple nights before the cruise at the Indigo Inn downtown....  Hoping we can just walk to the port... Have a great cruise.

Are you going on the 10 day?  O man I want to do that so bad. 

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NCTribeFan

NCTribeFan

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I'm doing this cruise on 10/26.  Have been on Sunshine before (shortly after she was updated from Destiny) and was surprised at how much I liked her given that there were a lot of negative reviews.  I was on a 1-way Journeys from Port Canaveral to San Juan and had a very good cruise.

 

I've also sailed out of Charleston many times so it will be interesting to see how it goes with the "revised" boarding process.  I'm driving down the day before (so I can spend the evening in Charleston eating and drinking and wandering along the waterfront) and don't know how early the shuttle will run.  I'll be Diamond (yes, I know that boarding will be the same as when I've been Platinum) but hope to start enjoying my cruise as early as possible.

 

Have been to Princess Cays twice and wasn't that impressed.  Do wish they'd just go straight to Bermuda.  There's so much to see and do there that 1-1/2 days isn't enough!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts and the photos.

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biomedbob

biomedbob

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As a veteran of many cruiseports, I've found that the Charleston the most confusing and if I were a first-time cruiser would not ever think of doing another one.  We stayed the night before in Orangeburg then drove to the cruiseport arriving there about 9 O'Clock.  At the main gate they allowed us to go into the parking area where they sell the parking tickets and take your luggage. We have a handicap sticker and they gave us a piece of paper to lay on the dash board to indicate we went through the process.

We could not park at that time because they were disembarking and they showed us how to exit the parking area and told us to come back @ 11 AM.  Now on a Sunday, with 2 hours to kill, 2 teenagers complaining in the back seat, in a strange City and having already had breakfast what to do?

 

Found there was an area called the Market that offered a bunch of options.  Tried finding it and did......but there was no opportunity to park without selling one of the kids.

 

Returned to the port to the first gate we easily entered 2 hours earlier.  We could not.  We had to join legions of cars just waiting to get in, pay their parking, and unload their luggage.

 

Since it was Sunday, there was little or no local parking in the streets surrounding the one entrance to the port.  People, most with out-of-state license plates were jocking for a better place.

 

Unfortunately, we're going to do this in March since the twin grandsons are out of school.  Any suggestions on how to make the process better.  With much thanks!

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Gettys84

Gettys84

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43 minutes ago, biomedbob said:

As a veteran of many cruiseports, I've found that the Charleston the most confusing and if I were a first-time cruiser would not ever think of doing another one.  We stayed the night before in Orangeburg then drove to the cruiseport arriving there about 9 O'Clock.  At the main gate they allowed us to go into the parking area where they sell the parking tickets and take your luggage. We have a handicap sticker and they gave us a piece of paper to lay on the dash board to indicate we went through the process.

We could not park at that time because they were disembarking and they showed us how to exit the parking area and told us to come back @ 11 AM.  Now on a Sunday, with 2 hours to kill, 2 teenagers complaining in the back seat, in a strange City and having already had breakfast what to do?

 

Found there was an area called the Market that offered a bunch of options.  Tried finding it and did......but there was no opportunity to park without selling one of the kids.

 

Returned to the port to the first gate we easily entered 2 hours earlier.  We could not.  We had to join legions of cars just waiting to get in, pay their parking, and unload their luggage.

 

Since it was Sunday, there was little or no local parking in the streets surrounding the one entrance to the port.  People, most with out-of-state license plates were jocking for a better place.

 

Unfortunately, we're going to do this in March since the twin grandsons are out of school.  Any suggestions on how to make the process better.  With much thanks!

We pulled up to park at 10:30 am...don’t get there before then, 4 cars were in front of us. Parked and walked over to check in. Waited about 15 minutes until they called our boarding zone. They shuttled us over and we went though the metal detector, walked onto the ship at 11:20. Super easy! One extra step compared to Florida ports but well worth a two hour drive for us vs at least 6 hours to Florida. 

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Gettys84

Gettys84

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Has been a lazy afternoon for us and enjoyed our balcony!  Grabbing an early dinner on lido are the deli. Grilled cheese and fries!  No fancy dinner for us tonight. Don’t like lobster and didn’t see much else we wanted in the dining room tonight. 

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scpirate

scpirate

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11 hours ago, Gettys84 said:

Not sure how we cruised without getting a balcony for so long. We cruised 7 or 8 times before we finally did a balcony on the Horizion in April. 

Same here insides the whole time .first balcony next summer (not carnival) back to an inside after that.(carnival sunshine) after that who knows .

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