Day Three!
Day three on Carnival Sunshine was another sea day. I guess that Aruba takes a long time to travel to. But sea days are great, a wonderful time to just chill and relax, which is mostly what I did.
Breakfast
We ended up going to the Seaday Brunch in the Sunrise restaurant again. My husband and I requested to share a table when we spoke to the hostess. We ended up at a table with a mother and daughter cruising and another couple. For me, part of the fun of cruising is getting to know people that we otherwise would not meet. I had my usual at a Seaday Brunch, Huevos Rancheros, plus a side of bacon. Remember that when you eat on a cruise you can order as much as you want. If you want two entrees, or two breakfasts, or something extra, feel free to order it. I always love the Huevos Rancheros, which is basically a tortilla with chicken on top along with mild spices, and two over easy eggs on top. It’s served with two different salsas. Very good! He had the Steak and eggs, which is steak, eggs, and potatoes. You can also get french toast coated with different cereals, like fruit loops. Too much for me.
Time to blog!
I always blog about my day one day behind. That’s so I can get the entire day into a blog. Of course I forget some things, but I try to get a lot in so you can see what it’s like to cruise. After breakfast I headed down to the computer kiosks near the shore excursions desk. They seem to work a bit better there. As usual, the internet was slow. I did manage to actually download a couple of pictures from my phone, so maybe it got a bit better. Just one picture at a time though. I’ll be putting galleries in my blogs when I get home, so pin this and come back later next week. Or follow my Facebook page. I’ll post them on there also. Blogging did take up over an hour and a half of my time, just because I had to wait so long to get things to load.
Deck three, a good place to relax
When I first started blogging, they had the doors to deck three outside blocked. They seemed to be doing some sort of electrical work in the ceiling by the doors. But after I finished my blog we could go out the door and enjoy deck three. One side is a smoking deck, but the other side is great if you just want to get out of the crowds and enjoy the ocean. Deck three has benches and lounge chairs, and is a great place to relax. I sat there awhile and then decided to try the Serenity adults only deck.
Serenity Deck
The Serenity Deck is beautiful on the Sunshine. Three layers of adults only deck, with a small pool and waterfall in the center. I really had planned on spending a lot of time by that waterfall, but the Serenity Deck stays pretty crowded. I do want to get in the pool, hopefully my next Seaday. The waterfall is so nice. Water is my way to relax, and I do intend on spending some time there. Where does the time go?
Lunch
My husband and I met at 1 pm for lunch. Luckily we did not forget to change our clocks back when daylight savings time ended. The ship did remind us multiple times to change our watches. When we go to Aruba tomorrow, we definitely didn’t want to be on the wrong time.
We ended up going to the Marketplace Buffet for lunch. Remember to sit in the Havana Bar area. You have a better chance of finding an empty table there. When you get off the elevators on the Lido deck, deck 9, one entrance goes to the Havana Bar and the other is the Marketplace buffet. You can sit at the Havana bar and go to the Marketplace to get your food, if you want. We both ended up getting Guys Burgers. There was no line at all, and Guys Burgers are delicious. I got the Ringer, yum! I’ve been trying to limit my sugar this cruise because I always gain weight. I only had half a piece of cake. I’m really not doing very well at limiting the sugar, that’s for sure. But we are taking the stairs a lot.
Afternoon
We really didn’t do a lot in the afternoon. After lunch I headed up to the Ladies’ Pampering party. Let me save you some time. There is no pampering involved. We were given a small amount of cleanser to cleanse our face. The placed a blob in our hands and we used that. Then we had a small piece of material to wash it off, then a tiny amount of eye cream and moisturizer to put on. They demonstrated makeup on two people, and gave two small prizes out. Then they proceeded to try and convince us that we needed to spend tons of money and then we’d look so much better. Basically, it was telling us that we’re not good enough the way we are. I don’t like that. So, if you do want to try some of these procedures, go, because they did give some discounts. But if you think you’re actually going to get pampered, you won’t. I was glad to get out of there because I got absolutely no pampering, just a sales pitch.
Secret decks
I did roam around after that for awhile and found the “secret” decks. Go all the way to the front of the ship on deck 6 or 7. There is a door in the front that you can go through, then another door right behind it. Deck 6 was less windy outside. The “secret” deck has a couple of benches. You can’t see the ocean sitting down, but you can stand up and watch the ocean. This is the perfect place for a quiet cruiser, because there was no one there when I was there.
I watched Mikey do a trivia show. That man has so much energy! I really enjoy watching him. Other than that, I just roamed for a while, then came back to the cabin to relax a bit. I sure am missing a balcony room. We do have a window, but it’s covered with sea salt, and not all that clear. The TV is so-so. One movie channel, a cruising channel, some cartoon channels, and some news channels. Who wants news when you’re on a cruise? Not me! And then my husband and I went back to the Serenity deck to just relax some more. My favorite places is on the deck above the waterfall pool. Under the overhang there are very comfortable sofas to lounge on. You can’t ask for anything more than a sofa with pillows. Maybe I just need to move to a cruise ship? Sounds good to me!
Dinner
We decided to leave the room early to get in line for our Your Time Dining. I haven’t talked to anyone who likes the Your Time Dining on the Sunshine. You have to stand in line at the Ocean Plaza to get your table assignment, and then go to deck three and stand in line to get in. I think that we have to do that because there’s no room outside the Sunrise Dining room to wait in line. It really hasn’t taken more than maybe 15 minutes or so, so I guess it isn’t really that bad. It’s just odd.
We requested that we get our waiter, Nyoman, this time. Last night we requested him but didn’t get him. We also requested to share a table. We ended up at a small table in the middle two other small tables. It did work though, because we managed to converse with the couples on either side of us. One was from Georgia, and the other from Virginia. Very nice couples, and we had a nice conversation. And we could see a beautiful sunset from our seat.
So much food
I ordered a lemon chicken comfort soup, which was basically a chicken vegetable soup. Not bad. I also had the BBQ Wild Boar, which was very good. For an entree I had the beef wellington, along with potato wedges. It also came with what seemed to be a small brick of mashed potatoes and peas. The beef wellington was so tender and delicious. I only ate one of the potato wedges because I was saving room for dessert. The potato wedges were okay, nothing special. The mashed potatoes with peas were okay too. He had the Flat Iron steak, and said it was good.
For dessert I had chocolate melting cake. This is the first time I’ve had it this trip for some reason. And I ordered it with a side of peanut butter. When I watched Josh Hocum’s vlogs on Carnival Sunshine, he always ordered it that way, so I thought that I’d try it. Not bad. Take a spoon of peanut butter and then dip it in the melting cake and ice cream.
Entertainment
And I forgot to say in yesterday’s blog that Santa Claus is actually on this ship! So kids, he’s watching even when you’re cruising!
The show last night was a Latin song show. I think that most of the cast was different from the cast in the Motown show. It was a great show. I do have to say that the Carnival Sunshine has better shows than some of the other Carnival ships I’ve been on. I really have no idea on how those dancers manage to dance with the ship moving so much.
After the show we decided to make an early night of it. I wanted to shower and get ready for Aruba tomorrow. I can’t wait to see Aruba, it’s a new port for us. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.
Speaking of the shower, it’s a way bigger shower than on most ships. However, when you try to shower the shower curtain is sucked towards you, and when you turn the water off, the water drips all over the bathroom floor. There must be a better way. Royal Caribbean uses shower doors, maybe that would be a better solution to the problem. Or make the shower curtains longer with magnets on the bottom to keep them inside the shower instead of outside to drip on the floor.
The ship
Carnival Sunshine has been rocking and rolling quite a bit. If you tend towards sea sickness, you’re going to need to bring Dramamine or your motion sickness remedy of choice. Last night it was rolling quite a bit. And after the scare of the ship listing during the last cruise, sometimes it makes me kind of nervous. But really, it’s not rolling any more than other ships I’ve been on. I did have to take a sleeping pill to sleep though.
We are still getting a bad smell in the hallway outside our cabin on deck 1. It’s either a chemical smell or an electrical smell. Luckily most of the smell isn’t getting into our cabin. And in the elevator area right by our room there is a power cord going down the stairwell to the crew area on deck 0. It sounds like there is an industrial fan blowing constantly down there. Wonder if I can sneak down that stairway and see what’s going on. We’ve also smelled fresh bread right there coming from the galley, I guess. I like that smell better. Also, once in a while we get a sewage smell in different places on the ship. Thankfully it’s not in our cabin.
Our steward, Myat, has been great. We’re just having our room cleaned in the evening while we’re at dinner, but he’s doing a good job. And I love his towel animals. Those guys have such a hard job, so be nice to them.
The Quiet Cruiser 