Willdra's Silent Carnival Sunshine Sept. 17-22 Review

[willdra]

We got to the Liquid Lounge around 9. We had lots of time, which was good cuz I could sit and talk to y’all by catching up my notes while we waited. The lounge filled up fast which was not a shock cuz again this is the only thing to do right now. I wonder if that was intentional? 

 

So my question was answered when the show commenced. It was intentional. Let me just say. Um. Yep. Ok. 

 

After watching Latin Nights, a refund was due unto me. I would like to speak with a manager please. This is what it sounds like when doves cry. What did we just witness? I still don’t know. Welp what I do know is, you shouldn’t sit in those seats behind the little water tables. A dancer comes down, gets in, and splashes everyone around it. Nobody wants or needs that. 

 

 

I looked around during the performance to see other people’s reactions, and it looked like my group of towel animals was watching the show. Just a bunch of blank stares everywhere. I was glad that it wasn’t just me. 
 

 

[willdra]

When the gods were merciful and blessed us with the end of the “show”,  we went to a few gift shops to see if there was something that we had to have. Nothing was really had to have level, but I saw a few possible gifts. Since we have another cruise coming up in a few weeks, I’m trying to keep my S&S bill at $0. That’s counting onboard credit and the gift cards that I added to our account. So far so good. I still have about $90 credit left, and we still have another day. 

 

The Mega Deck Party started at 10:15 so we went there next. It started with TJ leading some volunteers through a series of “pirate themed” games. Kudos to the volunteers cuz they didn’t know what they would be doing, and when they found out they didn’t quit. Some of the games were hard. I know I couldn’t do it. After the games the party started. It was fun dancing under the stars. It was a nice night out too. 
 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

When that was over we went into the buffet area to get my water and W’s last soda of the night. While I was over there I decided to get pizza cuz 1. I haven’t had it yet this cruise, and b.The line was miraculously short. That was a sign from above that I needed pizza. God is always looking out for me. 

 

 

 

The pizza was fresh and hot. Was I going to regret eating this so late with the heartburn that I could already feel building? Prolly. Was I going to blame W for not watching me and letting me get it? Absolutely. No surprise, I got it anyway. It tasted great going down. Now I gotta keep it from coming back up. Pray for me fam. I literally just chose violence for my throat.

 

After eating, reading, and talking to y’all, it was time for bed. 

 

Before I fell asleep, I said a prayer thanking God that I can’t eat like this at home. The amount of food that I’ve consumed in these few days is outrageous. I can’t help myself either, and W’s definitely no help! He’s always right there with me, eating like we just got paroled from prison. This is dat hood rich hood rat level of eating.

 

[mouche]

Hi willdra, first off, your reviews are awesome, I was wondering if the Sunshine still have the whole cakes at sweet spot during the buffet hours. I was last on her back in 2020 before all you know what broke out, will be sailing her again in Feb and was looking forward to those amazing cakes.

[ARcruisin2]

Before I log off here and get back to work... I gotta say a prayer thanking God for Willdra reviews... they're the absolute best!

😃

[Missusdubbya]

Wonderful review so far, thank you!

[Crusin Karen]

I LOVE LOVE your reviews!  I thank God for rainy days because I spent this whole day shut in reading your review.  I, too, suffer from heartburn and keep a bottle of Tums on my bedside table.  Your remark about violence in my throat had me LOL.  We cruised on this ship's inaugural cruise after dry dock and it was the last cruise I would have with my husband.  I LOVED the ship-and yes, we discovered the Havana area and ate there every morning.  I'm sorry to hear it's fallen into disrepair,  Wish she'd come back to my homeport of NY.  Thanks for a fun rainy afternoon read and happy Vista countdown.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ninjacat123]

"Before I fell asleep, I said a prayer thanking God that I can’t eat like this at home. The amount of food that I’ve consumed in these few days is outrageous. I can’t help myself either, and W’s definitely no help! He’s always right there with me, eating like we just got paroled from prison. This is dat hood rich hood rat level of eating."

 

Still laughing!!  You are soooo funny and can see and express a viewpoint that few can.  Looking forward to more....

[willdra]

2nd Sea Day

 

I’m embarrassed to say what time we got up. Let’s just say the hour was in the double digits. We quickly handled our hygiene then checked in to the app for brunch. Since this was the last sea day I had to go to brunch so that I could get my free VIFP drink. Our priority luggage tags were in our “mailbox” outside of our cabin when we left. I stopped to put them in the cabin cuz I didn’t want them to disappear while we were gone. 

 

As usual on this cruise, we got our table assignment right away. We went down to 3 and were seated after the hostesses had to verify our table and room number. Not sure what that was about. Maybe W looked extra suspicious this morning. Our seats gave us (me) a good view of the sea. I like sitting back by the windows, it’s nice to look at the wall to wall water. 

 

We got our coffee right away and W asked for more sugar. That didn’t arrive, but I had some extra packets in my bag that I nicked from Lido. We didn’t get spoons either so there we were stirring coffee with a butter knife. The ghetto. 

 

While we were waiting the hostess came back thru and asked our room number again. She put it in her iPad, then bowed and thanked us. There must be a system glitch going on. It took awhile for our server to show up. When he did, I ordered the Emeril’s Shrimp and Grits. Right away he told me he doesn’t recommend it cuz several people have had it and they didn’t like it. Ok Beetlejuice, don’t just deter me before you hear me out. What kinda server does that?  I told him that I had it on Mardi Gras and I loved it. He said ok I’ll get it for you. Thank you. I also ordered pancakes (from the kids menu) and bacon. If I can’t get down with the shrimp and grits, I will still have other options.

#choices. 

 

We sat drinking our coffee stirring it with butter knives waiting for things to appear on the table. W got his first. Mine took a little longer. When it arrived, they brought the Shrimp and Grits, but instead of the pancakes and bacon, the brought a plain skillet cake with syrup. Who asked for that? I didn’t feel like calling Beetlejuice back over, then waiting some more,  so I just dealt with it. 

 

The shrimp and grits was good. I forgot the little kick of heat that comes with it, so I had to drink a lot of water after the first few bites until my tongue adjusted. I love the flavor of the sauce with the sausage. I ate the whole thing. Since the plain  skillet cake is thick, I could only get down half of it. We ate our food and talked about random stuff. We also made the plan for the day. W would go up to Serenity to see if he could find a good seat. If not he would wait for me at the bar up there. I needed to go back to the cabin to get my cup and my bag. I meant to bring my cup but I forgot so I had to use W’s Yeti for my free drink. I switched from getting the blue margarita to the rum punch because the rum punch comes in a full glass. The blue margarita comes in a smaller glass and once you get through the ice, there’s only a tiny amount of actual margarita. I also put it in my cup so I don’t have to drink it right away. 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After we ate we left to divide and conquer. As we were waiting for the elevator, one  opened up and a mature couple (both on scooters) backed out of the elevator. The lady stopped so she wouldn’t hit a sign, the man backed up into her and pushed her scooter a little bit. After the eternity that it took for them to turn around, they were like ”Oh this is the wrong deck. We can’t go anywhere from here.” So then they were like “Oh well we may as well eat since we are here” and just went into the Diningroom. That’s what I’m talking about Grandma and Grandpa Moses. If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with. Our elevator arrived then so we didn’t see what happened with them next.  

 

I went up to the cabin and took my time. If W had to sit and wait for a seat it would take awhile. Or he could get lucky right away. Either way there was no rush. While I was in the cabin I took a Dramamine just in case we ran into rough seas. There is a hurricane out there. Somewhere.  I can say tho that we’ve had near perfect weather. You wouldn’t even know that we’ve been playing cat and mouse with a storm. I see people ask on the book of faces all of the time, if it’s safe to sail during hurricane season. For the most part, my answer is yes. The captain and crew are fabulous at maneuvering around storms. Sometimes ports may change or there may be delays, and they really try to avoid canceling if at all possible. I’ve even seen where they changed departure ports and brought buses in to take passengers to the new location to avoid canceling the cruise. If they do have to cancel tho, they also do an outstanding job of compensating everyone. 

 

 

[willdra]

I finished up my business in the cabin then went up to join W. It’s so much easier to find your way when the ship is open. The elevators haven’t been that busy either. I got up there and quickly remembered how big this  Serenity area is. W might as well be on the moon! I started on Deck 14. I walked around both sides and didn’t see him. As I was coming down the stairs to deck 12, I saw him waving at me. Thank God cuz  I never would’ve found him. He was on Deck 11 in a clamshell but it was turned around against the sun. 

 

I climbed in and got situated. There was a nice breeze blowing which made me happy. Good job W. 

 

Groove for St. Jude happened shortly afterwards, so I got up and watched the dances. I really like TJ and I’m praying that he excels as CD. I’m sure that’s a hard job, and he’s one of the youngest CD’s that I’ve seen in awhile. I  would love  to see him again in a year or so. I’ll bet his growth will be amazing. 

 

Around 1:40 W’s alarm went off and he went to wherever was about to close, to get food. I asked him to bring me something back. While he was gone it started sprinkling out. At first I packed up to leave then I saw that one side of the ship was cloudy but the other was clear. I climbed back in the clamshell and decided to wait it out. Soon the sprinkling stopped. It rained just enough to clear out Serenity. 

 

This rain off and on continued over the next couple of hours. W came back about an hour after he left. He brought me stir fry which was good (especially since I didn’t have to go and get it). At around 3:45 big drops started to fall and that was our queue to leave. The Diamond/Platinum Party started at 4. We dropped our bags off in the cabin and went to the party. I was curious to see if it would be the watered down version like in the Mardi Gras. 
 

 

[willdra]

When we got to Deck 4, there was a line. It was exactly 4 o’clock. A few minutes later the doors opened and the party started. A quick glance at the bar told me that this was a for real for real party. They were pouring the good drinks back there. They had beer, wine, rum punch, kiss on the lips, tequila sunrise, mocha chocolate getaway, strawberry daiquiri, and a few more. W and I loaded up. The servers kept coming too. When we got what we wanted we had to waive them off. When TJ gave his talk he said that they had to split the party into 2 parts cuz there were so many Diamonds and Platinums sailing. I think that’s the first time I’ve been on a cruise that this has happened. 
 

When the party was over, W and I crawled out and dropped our drinks off in the cabin. I went to Pixels to get my Platinum Gift and W said he was going to Guest Services. After Pixels I went to the gift shop. They had the 2 for $25 Tshirt sale going on. I basically spent the rest of my credit in there. 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Next we went to the casino to get our $25 free play card. We went to the back to the cashier’s cage and gave the guy our cards. First he took W’s info then mine. He rang it up and had us sign the receipt and a printout that had our cabin number and name on it. Then he handed both of us $25 in cash. Wait.What? I thought we were gonna get a card to stick in the slot machines. W said they maybe gave us cash cuz it was the last day. It didn’t take us long to realize how much cash we’ve left by not going to get it, since the restart. Every little bit helps and $25 is $25. Hopefully they will keep this going instead of bringing back that buy 1 get 1 free tournament entry, cuz we never redeemed that. 

 

We got back to the cabin and W sat on the balcony while I started packing. Then we switched places. 

I watched the debarkation presentation on the tv cuz I needed to know how this silent debarkation would work the next day. They aren’t allowed to make any noise or announcements in Charleston so this will be interesting. I get that Charleston wants to preserve their culture however this makes for a strange cruise. Hopefully first timers don’t judge their experience based on this. 

 

 TJ said that everyone has to be off of the ship by 9am, and we are to watch the tv for our tag number. I checked the app and all of the breakfast options will close at 8:30 so it looks like they mean business. It’s all good tho. W and I are actually excited about getting back home so much earlier than usual. 
 

[willdra]

We finished packing then went to dinner. There was no wait for our table to pop up in the app. When we got there it was practically empty as expected. The last night on most cruises yields very few bodies in the MDR. We made our choices and talked until food appeared in front of us. 

 

I ordered the steak ale and cheddar soup, braised short ribs, and wcmc. W ordered the marinated chicken tenders, etouffee of langoustine, fried chicken, and wcmc. Mine was exceptional. The soup had big chunks of steak in it, and the short ribs were so juicy. W didn’t care for the chicken tenders or the etouffee of langoustine. He said the fried chicken was good tho. 

 

Last night showtime  is always bittersweet. Especially when they sing that hateful leaving our funship song. That is not a song that came from heaven. We stuffed ourselves slowly. We really didn’t have any plans after dinner. W said it was a hard pass on the same comedian. So we walked around a little bit then went back to our cabin to get the suitcases out. I didn’t leave the cabin anymore after that. 

 

Before I fell asleep I said a prayer thanking God for my treadmill. I’m really gonna make her sing this week after all of this food I’ve eaten. I hope she got some rest while we were gone! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

9 hours ago, ARcruisin2 said:

Before I log off here and get back to work... I gotta say a prayer thanking God for Willdra reviews... they're the absolute best!

😃

Thank you!! 🥰🥰

[willdra]

8 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

Wonderful review so far, thank you!

Thank you for reading it! 🤗🤗

[willdra]

6 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

"Before I fell asleep, I said a prayer thanking God that I can’t eat like this at home. The amount of food that I’ve consumed in these few days is outrageous. I can’t help myself either, and W’s definitely no help! He’s always right there with me, eating like we just got paroled from prison. This is dat hood rich hood rat level of eating."

 

Still laughing!!  You are soooo funny and can see and express a viewpoint that few can.  Looking forward to more....

Thank you! I really do try  to see the haha in everything. 🤣😂🤣

[willdra]

8 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

I LOVE LOVE your reviews!  I thank God for rainy days because I spent this whole day shut in reading your review.  I, too, suffer from heartburn and keep a bottle of Tums on my bedside table.  Your remark about violence in my throat had me LOL.  We cruised on this ship's inaugural cruise after dry dock and it was the last cruise I would have with my husband.  I LOVED the ship-and yes, we discovered the Havana area and ate there every morning.  I'm sorry to hear it's fallen into disrepair,  Wish she'd come back to my homeport of NY.  Thanks for a fun rainy afternoon read and happy Vista countdown.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for joining  me on the journey! 🤗🤗

[Indiansbaseball]

I’m so late to this party but I got binge read…which is awesome ! As usual …loving your review ! We are cruising this October as well ! Can’t wait ! 

[Crusin Karen]

My recent cruise on 9/24 was my first since October 2019.  I'm Diamond-did not realize they no longer leave tickets for the free drink, that you had to pick up $25 casino chip or they did not leave diamond gift on the last night.  Wish I had read this sooner!  And yes, those short ribs on the last night are fabulous!  

[kelkel2]

Thank you again for the great review. I look forward to the next one!

[hapytobehr]

On 10/12/2022 at 3:38 PM, willdra said:

We walked back up to the entrance and just as I was asking W what he wanted to do, a taxi pulled up and offered to take us back. He was charging $12 total so we took it. Another couple rode with us also since he had a van. 

 

When we got back to board the ship, there was a security agent at the gangway. She stopped the line and said we had to wait for a wheelchair to come off. We waited a good while but no wheelchair came. People kept walking up trying to get on (like they didn’t see this mile long line of people waiting), and she would send them to the back. Time triples in the hot sun, so what may have been 5 minutes, felt like 15. 

 

So after waiting 30 minutes (heat index time)  another gangway opened up. Right after we scanned in, they were told to hold the line so someone could exit the ship. Meanwhile the other gangway was still waiting for the wheelchair that never came. Make.Better.Choices.Carnival. The line was already crazy long because of the ghost  wheelchair, now you want to make it even longer by stopping to let someone off. Wouldn’t using those double ramps maybe work better? No chance, that was too much like right. 

 

Once we finally got back on the ship, we went to find food. We weren’t really that hungry while we were in port, and why spend $30 or $40 (after the mandatory gratuity) for finger food that we can get on the ship? We already paid for the food on the ship so we will eat it as much as possible. The only venues open at that time were deli, Guys Burger Joint, Pizzaria, and a small part of the Lido buffet. I decided on deli. W had the same with a salad from the salad bar. I got the grilled ham and cheese and it was delish, but the bread was extra crunchy this time. Extra crunchy bread is in the hades cookbook. 
 

 

 

I so agree with you on this one!  why spend $$ when you can get the same stuff on the ship that you already paid for!!

[karmamule]

We are waiting for our room to become available so we can finish check in and enjoy the rest of the day before our cruise starts tomorrow. I especially appreciated having some Willdra time to make lounging in the lobby less boring. 😀

Edited October 14, 2022 by karmamule

[pirate4me2]

😭 I can't believe it's the end already! I need another great review to read ASAP to get me thru until I board Mardi Gras next month! 

[Crusin Karen]

1 hour ago, hapytobehr said:

I so agree with you on this one!  why spend $$ when you can get the same stuff on the ship that you already paid for!!

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!   👍👍