Carnival Sunshine 5-Day Nassau Cruise Review - 10/9/23

[MistyRo76]

Hello all! 

 

I am just back from a wonderful cruise on the Carnival Sunshine from Charleston to Nassau, Bahamas and Half Moon Cay. This was our first time visiting Charleston and it's been a bucket list destination for us for a while now, so we decided to drive down from our home in Northern Kentucky 3 days early to explore the area a bit. This cruise report will all encompass our time in Charleston as well the cruise itself. So let's get started! 

 

I began looking for our next cruise as soon as I got back from my Valor girls cruise last October. I had an offer with a $500 on-board credit burning a hole in my pocket! When I started the search, I focused on the second week of October as that was my daughter's fall break from school. She's a lucky one who gets a full week for fall break as opposed to just a long weekend! I had heard that the Port of Charleston was going to stop accepting cruise ships after 2024. Since Charleston has been high on our must see list, that seemed like the perfect fit for this vacation. Charleston is also only about a 9-10 hour drive (depending on traffic) from our home, so not having to pay for three airline tickets was going to be a huge cost savings! The week of our fall break the Sunshine was doing a 5 day sailing to Nassau and Half Moon Cay. It had been years since I'd been to HMC, so that was another selling point! Before long, we went ahead and locked it in for the October 9, 2023 sailing. On this sailing, it was going to be myself, my husband Drew and our now 9-year old daughter Sawyer. We also had some friends book this cruise with their 12-year old daughter. 

 

We decided to make this cruise our daughter's big birthday present on her 9th birthday in August. It was hard keeping it a secret from her for so long and the hubby almost slipped up in front of her several times. But we managed to not spill the beans! We gave her a new suitcase (in her favorite galaxy pattern) filled with stuff to bring on the cruise: a waterproof kids digital camera, sunglasses, a lanyard, activity books for the car trip, etc. I also printed out copies of our itinerary and put it in her card. She was so excited once she pieced all of the clues together! She had cruised previously as a baby/toddler but didn't remember those and had been begging for a long time to go on another one. So she was really over the moon! Here are a couple of pics of her on her birthday (excuse the messy hair - she insisted on doing her presents from us the minute she woke up! LOL). 

 

 

[TinkLoverSam]

She's so excited!😎

 

I'm looking forward to your review as we are looking at booking a Carnival cruise for next year and I have yet to read a review by anyone with kids close to my kids ages.

[Butterbean1000]

33 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

Hello all! 

 

I am just back from a wonderful cruise on the Carnival Sunshine from Charleston to Nassau, Bahamas and Half Moon Cay. This was our first time visiting Charleston and it's been a bucket list destination for us for a while now, so we decided to drive down from our home in Northern Kentucky 3 days early to explore the area a bit. This cruise report will all encompass our time in Charleston as well the cruise itself. So let's get started! 

 

I began looking for our next cruise as soon as I got back from my Valor girls cruise last October. I had an offer with a $500 on-board credit burning a hole in my pocket! When I started the search, I focused on the second week of October as that was my daughter's fall break from school. She's a lucky one who gets a full week for fall break as opposed to just a long weekend! I had heard that the Port of Charleston was going to stop accepting cruise ships after 2024. Since Charleston has been high on our must see list, that seemed like the perfect fit for this vacation. Charleston is also only about a 9-10 hour drive (depending on traffic) from our home, so not having to pay for three airline tickets was going to be a huge cost savings! The week of our fall break the Sunshine was doing a 5 day sailing to Nassau and Half Moon Cay. It had been years since I'd been to HMC, so that was another selling point! Before long, we went ahead and locked it in for the October 9, 2023 sailing. On this sailing, it was going to be myself, my husband Drew and our now 9-year old daughter Sawyer. We also had some friends book this cruise with their 12-year old daughter. 

 

We decided to make this cruise our daughter's big birthday present on her 9th birthday in August. It was hard keeping it a secret from her for so long and the hubby almost slipped up in front of her several times. But we managed to not spill the beans! We gave her a new suitcase (in her favorite galaxy pattern) filled with stuff to bring on the cruise: a waterproof kids digital camera, sunglasses, a lanyard, activity books for the car trip, etc. I also printed out copies of our itinerary and put it in her card. She was so excited once she pieced all of the clues together! She had cruised previously as a baby/toddler but didn't remember those and had been begging for a long time to go on another one. So she was really over the moon! Here are a couple of pics of her on her birthday (excuse the messy hair - she insisted on doing her presents from us the minute she woke up! LOL). 

 

 

My daughter lives in Charleston, so I am going to miss sailing from there.  It's only a 5 hour drive from us, no hotel and no pay parking.  Looking forward to your review.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Butterbean1000

[MistyRo76]

This was my 20th Carnival cruise overall - but it was still a cruise of firsts! First time driving, not flying, to our departure port, first time cruising from Charleston and first time on the Sunshine! It had also been quite some time since I visited both Nassau and HMC. I spent countless hours researching all of our destinations and securing hotel and restaurant reservations! In the days leading up to the cruise, I checked things off my to-do list: make sure our pet sitter had plenty of dog/cat/chicken food, arrange for a friend who has lizards to care for ours, get the car serviced/washed, buy all the last minute things, etc. Come Thursday evening, I was packed and ready for an early morning wake up call as I wanted to be on the road by 5AM!

 

As per usual when I have an early morning alarm set, I didn't sleep very well as I was checking my watch seemingly every 30 minutes or so! At 4:15, I got out of bed, made myself somewhat presentable and got our last few things loaded into the car. Hubby is not a morning person at all so he was a bit slower to get going and I had planned to let the kiddo sleep until the last possible moment and get her pretty much straight into the car in the hopes she would fall right back to sleep! We pulled out of our driveway at 5:06AM - almost exactly on schedule! I took the first shift driving and we topped off the gas tank just before we hit the interstate. Drew and Sawyer were both sleeping soundly within minutes! About 20 minutes down the road, one of the dashboard warning lights came on and my heart started racing! This was NOT how I wanted to start off the trip. It was a "Check Tire Monitor System" warning. Luckily, I had just had this warning go off a few months ago and all it was was a bad sensor indicating when your tire pressure is low in a specific tire. I had just had the car serviced and my tires are fairly new, so we just kept on going. The weather also wasn't ideal for the first few hours in the dark. It went back and forth between drizzle and outright raining. Not my favorite weather to drive in, but before too long, the skies lightened up and rain stopped. 

 

I drove us to Sevierville, TN. If you've been thru Sevierville, you know it's home to what is currently the largest Buc-ee's in the country - though two larger ones are being built, one in Texas and the other I can't remember where. We've never experienced Buc-ee's before so of course we had to stop! We didn't spend too much time here, but we did check out those amazing restrooms (WOW!), grab some Beaver Nuggets in White Cheddar and the hubby got a coffee and breakfast burrito. Those Beaver Nuggets are tasty! After going to a Buc-ee's, I can totally see what the hype is all about it and it lived up to it! 

 

We stopped several hours later at the South Carolina Welcome Center where we had a nice picnic lunch, stretched our legs and Drew enjoyed a pipe. Then it was onward down I-26 toward the coast. I-26 was without a doubt the slowest part of our trip. That stretch of road was filled with construction, traffic jams and accidents. We were hoping to get to our hotel by around 3:00 PM, but that last stretch of driving set us back about 40 minutes! Overall, it wasn't a bad drive and we loved the views going through the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains. But we were sure glad to get to our hotel! 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by MistyRo76

[MistyRo76]

9 minutes ago, TinkLoverSam said:

She's so excited!😎

 

I'm looking forward to your review as we are looking at booking a Carnival cruise for next year and I have yet to read a review by anyone with kids close to my kids ages.

Excited doesn't come close to what she was! LOL 

Happy to answer any questions you have along the way! 🙂 Our kiddo loved it and is already ready to book another one! She was eyeing my Platinum card wondering how long it will take her to get one! LOL

[MistyRo76]

4 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

My daughter lives in Charleston, so I am going to miss sailing from there.  It's only a 5 hour drive from us, not hotel and no pay parking.  Looking forward to your review.

I would definitely sail from Charleston again! Even spending 2 1/2 days there, there is still a lot we want to do! 

[AKR2011]

I love seeing a happy kid cruising! Great review so far and I look forward to following along ❤️⚓️

[MistyRo76]

Hello, Charleston! 

 

Normally when we cruise, we fly into the port city and prefer staying downtown close to the action so we can walk to restaurants, bars, entertainment or take a short Uber. But since we were driving to Charleston and would have our car with us, we decided to look for places to stay outside of the historic downtown Charleston area to save some money. Initially, I had booked both the Hampton Inn & Suites Charleston/West Ashley and the Cambria Hotel Mount Pleasant. The Cambria was about $50 less expensive for the three nights but did not include the free hot breakfast we would get at the Hampton. Both hotels also offered free parking for the duration of our cruise. I also had read online that the Cambria included a $25 Uber gift card to use to get back and forth to the cruise port. Not one to believe everything I read online, I called the hotel directly and asked about the Uber gift card and was told that was correct. After comparing everything, we decided to go with the Cambria in Mount Pleasant. The location seemed ideal - only about a 15 minute drive from most everything we wanted to do in Charleston - and the hotel was much newer and nicer. We ended up booking a 1 Bedroom King Corner Suite and paid $670 for the three nights total. 

 

It was about 3:40 PM when we arrived to the hotel. After checking in, we hauled our very full luggage cart up to our room on the second floor to our room - 231. This room was ideal for us traveling with our daughter. There was a separate bedroom with a king sized bed, a large walk in closet and plenty of floor space for our luggage. Someone in our group took full advantage of the fact that we were driving to this cruise and would not be bound by airline baggage restrictions and overpacked more than usual - and that someone would be me! So having that extra space in the hotel was great! 

 

The rest of our corner suite included a large living room with a section sleeper sofa, desk, TV, small dining table w/ two chairs and kitchenette with a coffee maker, small fridge, small sink and microwave. The bathroom was also large with a walk-in supersized shower and a mirror you can defog by pushing a button - neat! This room really was perfect for us as our daughter was able to sleep on the pull out bed and the hubby and I had our own space. And I almost forgot to mention - both rooms had walls of floor to ceiling windows. It really made the hotel room much brighter! Which was a plus because, like most hotel rooms, the actual lighting options in the room were underwhelming! When it was dark out, the room was very dark, even with all the lights on.

 

The hotel itself was also great! The lobby area included several large seating areas and a full bar. There was also a small coffee bar set up each morning and a small market that offered a wide variety of food and drinks for purchase at the front desk. There was a smallish outdoor pool with ample seating around it and a very large fitness room. Overall, the Cambria was perfect for our needs for our three night stay and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Charleston for a cruise or any other visit. 

 

Here are a few pictures of the hotel lobby, fitness center and pool. 

Edited October 17, 2023 by MistyRo76

[MistyRo76]

And here are a some photos of our hotel suite. 

 

When you get into the room, you go down a little hallway and then turn left. That is the second hallway you see in the first picture. The bedroom is on the right and the bathroom is on the left. It then opens up into the living area/kitchenette. 

 

Some features of this hotel room that we loved (and a couple that weren't ideal):

The little hooks, shelf and full length mirror in the hallway. This was a great spot to keep our keys, hang wet swimsuits or other things that we want to keep handy. 

 

The pull out couch was great. Once we made it into a bed, we just left it like that the remainder of our stay. We were mostly gone during the days, so it wasn't worth it to stow the bed each morning. But even with the bed out, there was still another seat and ottoman at the end of the couch and the additional chair. There was plenty of room for us to comfortably hang out in the evenings. 

 

The was additional storage in the cabinets under the kitchenette counter. We had plenty of room to store the snacks and food we brought from home. Like most mini fridges, this one kept food cool, but not cold. We brought our cooler in to keep our drinks iced down. 

 

I'm not a coffee drinker, but my husband needs his strong black brew to function each morning. When he went to make coffee the first morning we were there, he was a little annoyed to find that there were two decaf k-cups and two black tea k-cups and NO regular coffee!  That wasn't going to cut it for him! Thankfully, the coffee bar in the lobby had something strong enough to get him going! 

 

The walk-in closet had an automatic light. It would turn on when you stepped into the closet and then turn off a minute or so after you closed the door. This was great except when I needed to get into the closet while the hubby was still sleeping. No way to really get in there without shining light right in his face. 

 

The shower was very large - really a double walk-in shower. But it was one of those open-concept showers with a glass wall on half of the shower side and no door on the rest of it. I know these are a trend right now, but I am not a fan. It makes the shower so cold for me and not enjoyable at all. And the pressure from the shower head was really lacking here as well. They could also use better lighting in the bathroom and more places to hang towels/hand towels. 

Edited October 17, 2023 by MistyRo76

[MistyRo76]

We had ALOT planned for our short stay in Charleston. One of things I was most looking forward to while in Charleston was the FOOD! I spent a lot of time researching restaurants and went ahead and secured reservations well in advance for two of our three nights stay. The third restaurant we wanted to try doesn't take reservations so we would have to just walk-in. 

 

For our first night in Charleston, we had a 7:30 PM reservation at ACME Lowcountry Kitchen which is located in the Isle of Palms area. This also gave us the chance to spend some time checking out one of the local beaches. So after getting settled into our hotel room and freshened up a bit, we headed back out and made the 10-minute drive over to Isle of Palms. There is public parking and public beach access available at Isle of Palms and it was only a short 2-3 minute walk to the beach from where we parked. It really is a beautiful beach! The late afternoon/early evening weather was perfect for strolling on the beach, though the kiddo was dismayed that she wasn't able to actually get in the water since we were going straight to dinner after. But she was content playing in the sand and at the edge of the surf and looking for shells. There were several people surfing and playing in the water with the dogs. And we even spotted a few dolphins just out past where the surfers were waiting to catch waves. We let Sawyer expend some energy after a full day in the car and watched a beautiful sunset! 

 

As it got close to 7:00, we decided to head back to the car. But before doing that, we needed to find a restroom to wash all the sand off of the kiddo and her haul of shells! There is a street right before you get to the beach that is lined with little eateries and bars and a few hotel/condo complexes. We saw a sign pointing down that street to some public restrooms. We walked down and up both sides of the street and couldn't find it! I finally stepped into a restaurant and asked one of the servers where it was located. She pointed us in the right direction and we finally made it there.....only to find it locked up for the night! On our way back to the car, I decided to just step into a little beach bar that wasn't very busy and use their restroom to clean us up before heading to dinner. After, we made our way back to the car and made the short one minute drive over to ACME Lowcountry Kitchen. 

 

 

[MistyRo76]

We arrived at ACME Lowcountry Kitchen about 10 minutes prior to our reservation time. We checked in with the hostess and were seated within five minutes. Even at 7:30PM, there were still many people waiting for tables. I was glad we made a reservation and were able to get right in. Our dinner at ACME was one of the best meals we had over our entire vacation! Everything was top-notch, from the food to the service and everything in between!

 

One of the deals we made with Sawyer before taking her on another cruise was that she would have to try a new food everyday. Now, I will say, our daughter is a very good eater! She loves fruits and veggies, eats most meats, loves sushi and isn't afraid of seasoning and spice or even a little heat. But traveling is such a great way to expand your culinary palette, especially on a cruise as most food is included so if you don't like something, you can always find something else. After our stay in Charleston, I do think my daughter is a true southern girl at heart! She tried lots of new foods here and loved it all! 

 

At ACME, we started with the Southern Cornbread. The cornbread came with fried local shrimp and was covered in a Cajun cream sauce. This was amazing! Just the right amount of heat in the sauce and the cornbread was soft and sweet. Perfect combination of flavors. I also got the She-Crab Soup and almost had to fight Sawyer off for it! She loved it! It was rich and creamy and so tasty! 

 

For our main courses, Sawyer got the chicken alfredo from the kids menu. I had the Isle of Palms entree which included blackened shrimp, smoked sausage, tomatoes, and onions over Truffle Cheese Grits. This was my first time having grits. For some reason, I always thought I wouldn't like grits. But this dish was unbelievable! Those grits were so creamy and rich. I mean, these aren't your run of the mill Cracker Barrel grits. And you can't go wrong with anything that includes truffles. Drew got the special which was Pompano fish with a blueberry glaze and Brussel sprouts over another kind of grits (sorry - can't remember what kind). We all also managed to save enough room to split a fantastic slice of key lime pie. 

 

We left ACME feeling full and very satisfied. Once we got back to our hotel, the kiddo got showered and then her and I headed down to the gym so I could get in a quick workout. I got in 2 miles on the treadmill and  she switched back and forth between the treadmill and the elliptical. She wasn't thrilled that I wouldn't let her play on the other machines especially after some other young kids came in without adults and starting playing on them. But she listened and stayed on her approved workout machines and within my sight. While we were out and about, we checked out the pool which was lit up very pretty at night. Then it was back to our rooms to settle in, relax and get ready for another fun day on Saturday! 

[MistyRo76]

Saturday, October 7, 2023 - Charleston Day 2

 

On Saturday, we all slept in and woke around 10AM to partly to mostly cloudy skies. We didn't have set plans for this day yet. Drew's best friend and his family live in Atlanta. When we booked this cruise, we had invited them to come along, but they decided they aren't cruise people. Instead, they said they would drive to Charleston for a night or two and hang with us there. A couple months before the cruise, Drew's friend's wife had to have a second abdominal surgery to repair something that wasn't corrected during her first surgery months before. Given the close proximity of the surgery date to our trip, that put them being able to come to Charleston up in the air. And if they were able to make it, it was unsure how mobile she would be as far as walking tours or sightseeing. We had already made plans to spend Sunday downtown with our other friends who were going on the cruise with us. So we left this day open and waited to see what happened with Drew's friends. Unfortunately, a few days before the trip, his friend let him know that they weren't going to be able to make the trip after all. His wife is recovering well, but just wasn't quite up for traveling yet. 

 

So Saturday morning, we weighed our options and decided to do a harbor cruise tour. This seemed like a great way to see a lot of the sights of Charleston from the water. We ended up booking a 1:30 PM Charleston Harbor Tour on the Carolina Belle through the Charleston Harbor Tour Company and added on admission to Boone Hall Plantation. The harbor tour was scheduled to be 90 minutes long so that would leave us just enough time to make the drive to Boone Hall Plantation and have about 90 minutes there before they closed. 

 

Since we didn't have anywhere to be early on Saturday, we just lazed around the hotel. Drew went down to the coffee bar to find some legit coffee and then went outside to enjoy his morning pipe. Sawyer played online with her best friend back home and I just relaxed. For breakfast, I went down to the market in the lobby and got Sawyer some Pop Tarts and milk and I enjoyed one of my protein bars I bought from home. We had also brought along some deli meat, cheese and bread from home and I made Sawyer and I sandwiches for a quick lunch before leaving the hotel for the day. Bringing food from home for breakfasts and lunches made it very convenient and cost effective for us. 

 

We left the hotel around 12:45PM and headed toward downtown Charleston. From our hotel, it was only about a 15 minute drive to the downtown area. The instructions we received from the tour company directed us to check in at the Charleston Maritime Center and offered addresses for several parking garages within a couple blocks. We easily found a garage to park in and make the short walk to the waterfront. The Charleston Aquarium is right near where the harbor tours depart from. I've heard wonderful things about this aquarium and it's on our to-do list for our next visit to this city. Once we checked in at the tour company's office, we were directed to the pier where a long line had already formed. I thought we were doing pretty well getting there 20-25 minutes before the start of our tour - but if you want to be one of the first on the boat, get there earlier! They started boarding the boat shortly after we got in line and by the time we were onboard, all of the seats on the upper level of the boat were taken. That left the only available seating downstairs inside. We went and found some seats and within a few minutes the tour guide was giving us some instructions on what to expect during our tour. Once we got underway, we decided to head up to the top, open-air deck and just stand along the side of the ship. It was very warm on the lower inside deck and it was hard to see the sights through the very dirty windows. This ended up working out well for us! We could move around from side to side depending on what sights we were looking at. 

 

Overall, this was a great tour! The weather was beautiful and the tour guide was knowledgeable and entertaining. The ship had a small bar area at the back of the top deck and sold a selection of sodas, water, beers/wine, candy, chips, popcorn, hotdogs and other snacks. During the tour you saw and learned about many of Charleston's points of interest such as: Fort Sumter, Forts Moultrie & Johnson, the USS Yorktown, St. Michael's Church, and the large stately homes located on the Battery. One of the highlights was sailing under the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and honking the ships horn. In addition to all of the historical sights, we saw a lot of dolphins swimming just off the sides of the boat and pelicans diving for food. There was always something to see! 

 

We docked back at the pier just before 3:00 and headed back to our car to make the 10-15 minute over to Boone Hall Plantation. 

[peteandpris]

Great start, Beautiful family, looking forward to more. 

[ledges1]

It is nice to see families traveling by car and having a roadside picnic with homemade sandwiches. I am 68 and that is the type of vacations my family took. We always stopped at roadside picnic tables, got out the ice chest and made sandwiches. Occasionally, my father carried a Coleman stove and he prepared breakfast.👍

[MistyRo76]

It was only about 10-12 minute drive from where we parked for the harbor tour over to Boone Hall Plantation. We purchased our tickets to the plantation as a combo deal with our harbor tour. The cost for the combo ticket was $57 per adult and $33 for children 4-11. Had we purchased the harbor tour and plantation tour separately, it would have cost us $27 more than the combo. So the combo ticket is definitely worth it if you want to see both! 

 

We got to the plantation entrance around 3:30 which would leave us around 90 minutes to explore. The grounds here are stunning. There's really no other word to describe it! There is a small check-in shack at the front of the property. Once you check-in, you proceed down the main drive - the Avenue of Oaks - which is 3/4 of a mile of 280 year old giant live oaks draped with Spanish moss. This creates a full arch overhead. It's really beautiful and photos don't do it justice. We were directed to the overflow parking lot as they were busier than normal with visitors and guests for that evenings wedding. We were told that they accommodate up to 200+ weddings a year and have a 2 year waiting list. The plantation offers several sites on the grounds for weddings including The Cotton Dock, the majestic front lawn or rear patio or back lawn. 

 

The plantation was founded in 1681 by John Boone and is one of the oldest plantations still in operation. There have been a handful of owners of the plantation during it's history. The Boone family owned it until 1811 when it was sold to Thomas Vardell for $12,000. The Horlbeck family bought the plantation shortly after and are the ones who planted the Avenue of Oaks in 1843. Canadian Thomas Stone purchased the plantation in 1935 from the Horlbeck estate. The Stones demolished the wooden house on the property and built the current home in 1936. I was very surprised to learn that the home there now wasn't even 100 years old. The Stones sold the plantation in 1940 to a Russian prince and his wife who was an American socialite. The prince raced thoroughbreds including his most notable horse Princequillo who was the fastest distance runner in the US in 1943 and whose most notable descendants include Triple Crown winners Secretariat and Seattle Slew. In 1955 the McRae family purchased the plantation and still own it today. It was opened to the public for plantation tours in 1956. 

 

Obviously, with many plantations and other historical sites in the south, Boone Hall Plantation is also deeply tied to slavery. The slave quarters remain on the property to this day and includes many archaeological artifacts linked to Gullah culture, interpreted through living history presentations though song and story telling. 

 

Once we got parked, we got signed up for the last house tour of the day which was at 4:30. We tried to do the last farm tour but the tractor buggies were already filled up. So we spent the next hour just exploring the grounds. The grounds includes preserved wetlands, creeks and ponds, formal gardens with brick-paved paths and many other structures. There is a brick smokehouse that dates back to 1750, a large Cotton Gin house built in the 1850's. The Cotton Gin house was subsequently turned into a guest house, restaurant and gift shop, but was damaged by Hurricane Hugo and is awaiting renovation. There is also a large horse stable, butterfly preserve and another gift shop/café. 

 

At 4:30 we headed to the pergolas in front of the main house. Our tour guide John was fantastic and it was very interesting hearing about the history of the house and seeing all of the personal artifacts and some replicas inside. The tour only included the main floor as the upstairs is still in use by the family. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed once we went inside the house. Some items to note - I counted at least 8 chimneys on the roof of the house. The fireplaces we saw inside were enormous! The house itself is around 10,000 square feet. The house is also not symmetrical....which is hard for me as I love things to be evenly balanced! You may notice in my close up photo of the main porch that the ceiling of it is painted a light blue color. This is fairly normal for this area as people believed this color of light blue would keep bad spirits away from their house. Notable movies/shows filmed here include North and South (w/ Patrick Swayze), Alex Haley's Queen mini-series and The Notebook. We finished our tour just after 5:00 and set out for an early dinner. 

 

[MistyRo76]

32 minutes ago, peteandpris said:

Great start, Beautiful family, looking forward to more. 

Thank you for your kind words and following along! 

[MistyRo76]

18 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

I love seeing a happy kid cruising! Great review so far and I look forward to following along ❤️⚓️

Thank you! 

[MistyRo76]

Originally on this night, we were going to meet our other friends downtown for dinner at a restaurant called California Dreaming. They wanted to eat somewhere close to their hotel after spending the day driving down from back home. But in all of my researching, the general consensus was that Page' Okra Grill was a must try restaurant. So we bailed on our friends (who understood as we had plans for a tour and dinner with them the following day) and decided to try Page's instead. Page's does not accept reservations, so we headed there right after our tour at Boone Hall Plantation hoping our early arrival time of 5:30 would beat some of the normal dinner crowd. After expecting having to wait for a table, we were pleasantly surprised to be seated right away. Page's is a larger restaurant with plenty of indoor seating and a large outdoor dining patio that goes more than 1/2 way around the restaurant. We opted for a table outside to enjoy the perfect weather that evening and our waitress was quickly taking our orders. 

 

 

We started with Page's Sampler Platter appetizer which includes: Redneck Rolls (smoked BBQ pork & pimento cheese in a spring roll served with mustard BBQ sauce), Fried Green Tomatoes (served with a roasted red pepper jam & peach jam), & shrimp & bacon chipotle cheese dip w/ pita bread. It was all really good - but the Redneck Rolls and cheese dip were my faves. I've had fried green tomatoes before and they aren't my favorites, but the mustard BBQ sauced paired perfectly with them. 

 

I had the Seafood Platter for my entrée. This included a pan seared lump & sweet blue crab cake, fried jumbo shrimp and a fried flounder fillet. I also got the She-Crab soup, mashed potatoes and cornbread muffin for my sides. 

 

 

Hubby had the Grilled Seafood Platter which included grilled sea bass, jumbo shrimp, cake cake and pan seared scallops. For his sides, he elected for the pimento cheese grits, fried okra and a hush puppy. 

 

 

Kiddo had the grilled shrimp and the largest fruit bowl I've ever seen! She was in heaven! 

 

 

And again we all saved room for the Key Lime Pie, though today's pie paled in comparison to the one we had the night before at ACME. 

 

 

After dinner, we went back to the hotel so the kiddo could get in some night swimming while dad sat nearby and enjoyed his pipe and I got in a workout. Tomorrow is gonna be another busy day in Charleston! 

 

 

And yes - I just figured out how to insert pics right into the posts! 🙂 It took me a while, but I got it now! 

[RogBus101]

Mistyro, you are not going to believe that me and my family sat right across from you guys at the check in warehouse. I'm Rogbus 101 the guy that was celebrating my retirement I recognized you guys from your pics.sorry we didn't get say hello but my retirement cruise was a blast!!!!

 

[MistyRo76]

1 minute ago, RogBus101 said:

Mistyro, you are not going to believe that me and my family sat right across from you guys at the check in warehouse. I'm Rogbus 101 the guy that was celebrating my retirement I recognized you guys from your pics.sorry we didn't get say hello but my retirement cruise was a blast!!!!

 

Wow...what a small world! So glad you had a wonderful retirement cruise! Wish we could have said hello and helped celebrate you onboard! 

[RogBus101]

Wish you happy cruising and maybe we will run into each other in the future. We're booked on the Mardi gras in January and back on the sunshine In October.

[MistyRo76]

Sunday, October 8, 2023 - Charleston Day 3

 

We woke up to another partly cloudy day! Honestly, our weather in Charleston couldn't have been any better. Most of the time, the skies had some cloud cover - mornings tended to be a little more cloudy and it would clear throughout the day. Temps were perfect for sightseeing and we really didn't get any rain that I can recall. 

 

Today was going to be our day exploring downtown. My friend Kae Lee had pre-booked a 1:30 PM carriage tour through Old South Carriage Company. But we planned to head down early for lunch and to explore the City Market before the tour. We knew we wanted to try Callie's Hot Little Biscuits for lunch. So we headed downtown around 11:15 and were parked in the Cumberland Street parking garage by 11:30. This was a perfect parking location as it was very centrally located to everything we wanted to do and see downtown. We made our way a couple blocks over to the City Market in search of our hot little biscuits! 

 

 

 

 

The Charleston City Market was established in the 1790's and stretches for four city blocks. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Market Hall and Shed and was further designated a National Historic Landmark. It is located between North and South Market Streets. The current structures were built in the early 19th century but have been renovated and rebuilt numerous times due to damage from earthquakes, fires and hurricanes.  We found Callie's near the center of the market and joined the long line to place our orders. 

 

 

 

 The kiddo wasn't feeling Callie's, so she had a true breakfast of champions from the little market across the hall - a blueberry muffin and Pringles! 

 

 

Drew and I split an order of the Handmade Hot Little Biscuits. You can get an order of 3 for $6 or a Baker's Dozen for $24.95. You can choose from a variety of savory or sweet flavors - we opted for Shortcake, cinnamon and blackberry. Guess we were feeling more sweet that morning! We also each got a larger Buttermilk Biscuit Sandwich. Drew went with the BLT and I got the Jalapeno Pimento Cheese. 

 

 

We spent the rest of the time until our carriage tour exploring the market and surrounding areas. inside the market you will find an array of handcrafted goods from local artisans and other souvenirs and goodies - toys, hats, shoes, candy, artwork, skin care items, and much more! 

 

 

The Pineapple is a symbol of welcoming people into your home here in South Carolina. Before the times of telephones/smart phones, when people came home from their travels they would put a pineapple on their front porch when they were ready to accept visitors. 

 

 

You can find several vendors selling Sweetwater baskets. 

 

 

Just outside of the market is the United State Custom House.

 

 

And on the corner across the street from the market is Savannah's Candy Kitchen. We would come back here later for ice cream and some other sweet treats. 

 

 

Before we knew it, it was almost time for our horse tour. We headed over to Anson Street to meet our friends and wait for our tour to begin. 

[MistyRo76]

56 minutes ago, RogBus101 said:

Wish you happy cruising and maybe we will run into each other in the future. We're booked on the Mardi gras in January and back on the sunshine In October.

 

I am dying to try the Mardi Gras or one of her sister ships! But I may do another short voyage with the kiddo next fall break and we're looking at Alaska cruises for Summer of 2025. So it may be a while before I get on one! 

[RogBus101]

I'll let you know my thoughts on the Mardi gras when we get back.

[MistyRo76]

2 hours ago, ledges1 said:

It is nice to see families traveling by car and having a roadside picnic with homemade sandwiches. I am 68 and that is the type of vacations my family took. We always stopped at roadside picnic tables, got out the ice chest and made sandwiches. Occasionally, my father carried a Coleman stove and he prepared breakfast.👍

I remember traveling as a kid and I always loved our stops at rest stops! It was nice to sit outside and stretch our legs a bit rather than being so rushed to just eat and go!