Journey to the SUNSHINE 1/7/18 to 1/20/18

[byrdbrain55]

I fully intended to write a review for this cruise shortly after we returned but life got away from us and I never did it.  I ended up writing a review for our March 2020 Glory cruise and decided to go ahead and try to write this one up as well.

 

A little bit about those of us who cruised together:

 

Me:  Erin, I've been cruising since I was 18 but this was only my second Carnival cruise.  Normally, I cruise Princess or Holland America.

Larry: My boyfriend, he had cruised previously but it had been about 20 years

 

Brian and Carol:  Longtime Carnival cruisers.  Brian is my boss and likes to tell people that he is cruising with his wife AND his secretary.

 

Jay and Diane:  Cruise virgins.

 

Gary and Karina:  Originally from the UK, now living in Washington state.  Friends with Brian and Carol.

 

Mark and Cheryl: Cruise Virgins.  Mark and Gary work together.

 

John and Rebecca:  Cruise Virgins.  From the UK, John is Karina's brother.

 

We booked this cruise about 8 months prior to cruising so I had plenty of time to plan and dream.  I have never booked an excursion through a cruise line and prefer to plan my own through private vendors using TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic for suggestions.  For those who don't remember, the 2017 hurricane season was particularly devastating to the Caribbean.  We were unsure exactly which ports we were going to be able to go to but we made it to all of them.  It was very sad to see all of the devastation.  This was a Journeys cruise which means that it is a longer cruise (13 days) going to ports that Carnival doesn't normally go to and there were classes and fun activities onboard.  I had never done a cruise longer than 7 days but I was excited to experience all of the different islands.  

 

Larry and I are white, like glow-in-the-dark white.  We don't tan and do our best not to crispy fry ourselves so we are not all about the beach life.  I do love the water, snorkeling and scuba diving but I need to make sure I don't turn pink, since pink is painful.  I like to get out and see what each new place has to offer so we tend to try to mix up what we do in each port.

 

 

[Joe817]

Yayyyyy! Another of your great reviews! Look forward to following along! 👍

[byrdbrain55]

Our itinerary is as follows:

 

January 7, 2018     Port Canaveral

January 8, 2018     Fun Day at Sea

January 9, 2018     Fun Day at Sea

January 10, 2018   St. Thomas

January 11, 2018   Antigua

January 12, 2018   Barbados

January 13, 2018   Grenada

January 14, 2018   Fun Day at Sea

January 15, 2018   St. Maarten

January 16, 2018   San Juan, Puerto Rico

January 17, 2018   St. Kitts

January 18, 2018   Fun Day at Sea

January 19, 2018   Fun Day at Sea

January 20, 2018   Port Canaveral

 

 

[Joe817]

Gads, what a GREAT itinerary! I'm gonna love reading this. 

[byrdbrain55]

6 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Yayyyyy! Another of your great reviews! Look forward to following along! 👍

 

2 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

Gads, what a GREAT itinerary! I'm gonna love reading this. 

I'm so glad you're following along again.  This was an AMAZING itinerary.  The only port I had been to previously was St Thomas and I was so excited to go to all new ports.  I have a goal of one day seeing all 7 continents and would love to see as many countries as I can.

[byrdbrain55]

Since we live on the west coast, we always fly in at least a day early.  Quite honestly, we have to since the flights wouldn't get us to Florida prior to ship leaving if we tried to fly on the day of sailing.  

 

We got to the airport at 3:30 in the morning for our 5 am flight to check in only to find out that the ticket desk doesn't open until 3:45.  We stood in line and were the first people to drop our luggage off and then off to security we went to find out they don't open until 4.  I was cursing my travel agent (me) at this point since I am not a morning person and this was just annoying since I was tired and just wanted to get this show on the road.  Our flight to Seattle was on time and everyone had time to grab a bite or coffee in the airport before we boarded the flight to Orlando.

 

Once in Orlando, we grabbed our luggage and took the shuttle to our hotel, Embassy Suites Orlando.  We got the hotel on Priceline for $179.  The Embassy Suites have a complimentary evening reception, serving drinks and appetizers.  We dropped our luggage in our rooms and then met in the lobby for the reception.  Gary and Karina and John and Rebecca were not staying at the same hotel so it was just 8 of us.  At some point, Larry said he needed to run up to our room for something and promptly disappeared.  I found out later when I went looking for him that he had fallen asleep (since we had such an early flight, he had just stayed up and had not slept the night before).

 

I wanted to go find a store to buy wine, soda, shampoo and conditioner and sunscreen.  The hotel front desk said the shuttle could take us anywhere in a 3 mile radius but they were out at the airport and it would be a while before it was back.  I decided that we could just walk since there was a Walgreens about a mile away.  This seemed like a great plan until we realized we had no idea where we were going and wandered around for about an hour looking for the store before eventually stumbling upon it.  Jay was less than impressed with my navigation skills, lol.  We ended up calling the hotel shuttle to pick us up and take us back to the hotel.  We ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel lobby and then headed to bed.

[schwesterellibelli]

Thank you for sharing. It helps with the cruising withdraw.  we had planned a cruise going to Domenica etc from San Juan next October, but they cancelled all cruises with the Fascination.

Can't wait to hear more from your journey.

[byrdbrain55]

Today is Embarkation Day!

 

We woke up, re-arranged our luggage so the wine and soda could be in a carry-on.  Embassy Suites has a complimentary made-to-order breakfast.  After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and were picked up by Cortrans Shuttle ($20 per person each way).  Jay and Diane came with us on Cortrans and Brian and Carol and Mark and Cheryl went back to the airport to catch the Carnival shuttle.  We were the first ones picked up and stopped at several other hotels picking up more people before heading from Orlando to Port Canaveral.  It is about a 45 minute drive and it was very pretty.  

 

 

Soon, we were able to get our first glimpse of the Sunshine!  Whale tail ahead!

 

 

Traffic was crazy getting into the port but we finally made it.  After dropping our luggage with the porter, we got in line to check-in and go through security.  While we were in line, Larry started chatting with a retired Sgt. Major.  Larry is an Army veteran and they hit it off.  We did have a good laugh when he asked where we were from and told me that I had the whitest legs he had ever seen.  

 

It is time to board!

 

[byrdbrain55]

15 minutes ago, schwesterellibelli said:

Thank you for sharing. It helps with the cruising withdraw.  we had planned a cruise going to Domenica etc from San Juan next October, but they cancelled all cruises with the Fascination.

Can't wait to hear more from your journey.

I am going through cruise withdrawals myself and reliving my past cruises is definitely helping.  We loved San Juan!  I'm sad you are going to miss it.

[byrdbrain55]

[byrdbrain55]

 

We ended up boarding the ship at around 12:30 or 1.  We headed up to the Lido and got our first Guy's Burger.  I love the Pig Patty with bacon and my favorite part is the ability to choose my toppings from the toppings bar.  

 

After lunch, we went down to our rooms and dropped off our carry-ons.  We met our room steward, Felix who asked if we wanted morning or evening service or both.  We let him know that we are fairly laid back and our only request was for ice.  We loved Felix and I'm still in contact with him via Facebook.  He is such a nice guy and he was always smiling and greeted us by name.  How are you today, Mr Larry? 

 

We set off to explore the ship prior to the muster drill.  

 

[byrdbrain55]

Pixels Gallery

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Atrium and lobby bar

 

[byrdbrain55]

Waterworks and Mini Golf

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

We were in port with the Carnival Liberty and Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas, which was at a different terminal.

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

The muster drill was held outside on deck 4 and was relatively quick and painless.  We checked in when we got to our muster station and I think it was completed in about 15 minutes or so.  We went up to the Lido Deck to watch the Sail Away party before going to the "secret deck" forward on Deck 6.  We ended up staying out there and freezing until we made it out to the open water.

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

We had Anytime Dining so we had to check in at a desk on Desk 5 near the Ocean Plaza.  All of our rooms were linked so it was easy to request a table for 12 and generally we had little to no wait.  I am not an adventurous eater but I tried to get photos of several of the different dishes each night.

 

Menus

 

 

 

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

I had the Smoked Chicken Quesadilla and Strawberry Bisque and Larry had the Fried Calamari and Shrimp Cocktail for our appetizers.

 

 

 

 

 

I am "selective eater" aka picky.  I chose to have Bacon Mac and Cheese and French Fries for my main.  I believe Larry had the Pork Loin.  

 

 

For dessert, I had the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake and Larry had the Apple Pie.  

 

[byrdbrain55]

Larry loves to play Bingo on our cruises so we hit up the Carnival Journeys Bingo before watching the Welcome Aboard show.  We didn't win at Bingo and Larry wanted to try to catch the Space X Launch but by the time we made it up onto the deck, we had missed it.  We headed to bed shortly after watching for the rocket launch and getting chilled up on the deck.  I kept thinking to myself, I hope it gets warmer since I only brought one pair of long pants.

[byrdbrain55]

Fun Day at Sea  January 8, 2018

 

Fun Times

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Since I am a planner, when we are in port, we are usually on the go.  So many things to see and do.  Sea days actually force me to relax and just go with the flow.  

 

We spent the morning relaxing on deck and making lanyards for some of the roll call members.  Larry makes paracord lanyards and bracelets and offered to sell custom lanyards with different colors of paracord.  The weather was a bit warmer but the seas were a little rough and we did get a brief sprinkle while up on the deck.

 

 

At 10:30, we headed to the Fun Aboard Fun Ashore show led by our Cruise Director, Lee.  Lee Mason is hands down the best Cruise Director that I have had the opportunity to sail with.  He is incredibly high energy but takes a personal interest in each and every passenger.  There were lots of giveaways at the show and Larry came away with some swag.  

 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and eventually went to get ready for our first formal (cruise elegant) night on the cruise.  We had some photos taken while we were all dressed up and then met up with everyone for dinner.  

 

  

 

 

[byrdbrain55]

Formal Night Menus

 

 

I had a Caesar Salad and Larry had Fried Oysters and Shrimp Cocktail for our appetizers.  For our entrees, I had Spaghetti Carbonara and Larry had Prime Rib and Lobster.

 

 

 

 

For dessert, Larry had Creme Brulee and I had fresh tropical fruit.

 

[byrdbrain55]

Our whole group at dinner.  

 

 

After dinner, we enjoyed the Motor City show in the Liquid Lounge.  The singers and dancers for all of the shows were very good.  

 

Good night all!

 

[mlshum]

Cruise withdrawal here, too!  I was so excited to see your review!  We’re looking forward to being on the Sunshine in February......Lord willing......

 

in in the interim...thank you!

[jimbo5544]

thanks for bringing it back front and center.