Carnival Sunshine Review, Part 4: Sea Day #1featured

Famous last words.

It always comes back to those famous last words.

I’m one of the lucky few that actually enjoys rough seas. I don’t get seasick. The waves don’t make my stomach turn or give me migraines. Instead, they’re like these big, strong arms that wrap me up in their embrace and slowly rock me to a peaceful slumber. Mom says that I loved motion as a baby – that she’d put me in the rocker or on top of the dryer to get me to sleep. Rough seas bring me the best sleep I’ve ever known as an adult.

The seas were a little rocky on our first night, but nothing crazy. We’d seen worse on a few of our more recent cruises. But today, when we woke up, the skies were gray and the ship was slowly rolling to the ocean’s beck and call.

We didn’t put on our swimwear or pack our bags for some sun time. We couldn’t even tell if it was raining or not. So we threw on some comfy sweats and headed upstairs to the Lido deck for breakfast. And first breakfast? That calls for some arepas from the Blue Iguana Cantina. Sweet, dense arepas. The girl in front of me in line asked the line chef what they were. “Corn pockets filled with cheese,” he told her. I wanted to tell her that they were the most delicious thing she’d find on board all week, but I kept that little secret to myself. She ordered the huevos rancheros. I settled in with two arepas, a side of salsa verde for dipping and a cup of coffee.

It was still a bit chilly and the skies were heavily overcast, so after breakfast, we headed out around the ship, checking out the shops, walking along Ocean Plaza and settling in for some trivia. Unthemed general trivia isn’t our strongest suit, but we made a decent showing – my head is filled with useless knowledge that begs for a little friendly competition over a plastic ship trophy.

After trivia, a couple of rays of sun started to poke through the clouds, so we headed back to the room to switch into our pool gear and find some chairs outside. Finding a couple of chairs on the pool deck was impossible and finding them on deck ten wasn’t much easier, but we found a few empty chairs to the starboard side of the DJ booth and settled in with our iPods. The sun would emerge for a few minutes and then disappear behind heavy clouds for a few more in a pattern that lasted well over an hour, but when storm clouds started to obscure the skies, we headed inside for lunch.

The Sunshine has plenty of options for lunch and it’s pretty impossible to go hungry on this ship. Unfortunately, if you’re entirely indecisive like me, this makes meal times difficult. Stephanie settled on pizza from Pizzeria del Capitano and a salad, while Mom and I opted for burgers from Guy’s Burger Stand. The lines were long, but I was beyond pleased with the service and how the line chefs took the time to make me a special order despite the lines. It would have been easy to dismiss me or throw something together on a plate in some haphazardly unappetizing way, but they took the time to make sure they got it right (a burger on a plain bun with no sauce, by the way – they grill their buns with mayo and if you, like me, don’t enjoy white condiments, you might want to ask for a plain, ungrilled bun).

For dessert, we grabbed some cupcakes from the Havana Bar, where they’d put out Cuban sandwiches, empanadas and either cupcakes or Cuban desserts daily during lunch. The empanada baskets were always empty every time I stopped by, so I’ll take that as a sign that they were pretty good. And seriously, how cute are these cupcakes?

After lunch, we headed back to the room and found our Platinum chocolate treats waiting for us. We settled in for a little afternoon rest – a nap for Stephanie and a viewing of Pitch Perfect on the television for me (have I mentioned how much I missed having in-room movies when we were on our Europe cruise?).

We contemplated going to afternoon tea, but instead decided to take our time relaxing, strolling along the decks and getting ready for formal night.

We headed out around 5:45 pm and the public decks were buzzing with cruisers mingling in their evening best. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen people so decked out on formal night.

The Sunshine has a bit of a different process for Anytime Dining, probably because it only has one dining room. Instead of going to the dining room and checking in with the Maitre’d, you go to Ocean Plaza to check in at a table, where they will either print you a ticket and send you down to deck 3 to the restaurant, or they will give you a buzzer to wait for your table. We had no wait and were quickly ushered downstairs to (as requested), our private booth.

Our dinner was pretty standard. We’ve been on too many Carnival cruises with these menus at this point and this formal menu, in particular, is not our favorite. Instead of my usual Strawberry Bisque order, I opted for something new (the Stewed Beetroot Carpaccio) and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. And since it was formal night and the Sunshine still has the old menu, I hacked my dessert by ordering a Warm Chocolate Melting Cake with my Cherries Jubilee and mixing them together. It bulks up the rather pithy Cherries Jubilee dessert (which as been reduced to three cherries in a gelatinous sauce with some ice cream) and adds some tartness and texture to the sweet chocolate cake.

Baked Stuffed White Mushrooms

Greek Farmer Salad

Sake Stewed Beetroot Carpaccio

Tender Roasted Prime Rib of American Beef Au Jus

Broiled Maine Lobster Tail and Jumbo Black Tiger Shrimp

Some lively dining room entertainment

Caffeine Boosting

Banana Split (ordered off the kids menu)

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake + Cherries Jubilee

Dinner ran long, so we missed out on the first seating of the Motown show. We took the time to sit out on Ocean Plaza to catch a live acoustic set outside of the Red Frog Pub and people watch at the Alchemy Bar.

We ultimately headed to the Library Bar for a couple glasses of wine and I swear I have the worst luck with these self-serve wine machines because in a repeat of our Allure cruise and our Breeze jaunts, the machine wasn’t giving me wine when I put my card in it. At least not the first time. Wine came out the second time, but I got charged twice. The purser was quick to take care of that for me, though, when we stopped by on our way back to the room.

When we got back to our room, we found our Platinum gifts waiting for us: some nice journals and pens. We were hoping for the packable duffel bags, but I can make use of a leather bound journal.

By this point in the evening, the ship was really starting to roll. We weren’t sure if the evening activities would go on as planned, but we headed out with open minds and backup plans. There were heavy lines to get into the show lounge, which is infinitely smaller than we’re used to (likely because a portion of the theater was removed to make room for more guest rooms when the ship was refurbed).

The Motown show was better than I remembered, even if I still don’t get how Lionel Richie is considered Motown (I dwell on this every time we see Motor City). And props to Jamie, who did the pre-show announcements from the seats inside the theater. Most CD’s pre-record their messages or do it from the stage. She did it live from within the passenger area. The production started with a pre-show featuring some of our fellow cruisers and the guys from the Playlist Productions cast.

Oh, and sidebar, when did Carnival start allowing you to take pictures and stop asking you to not record?! I got past my Lionel Richie holdup and my disdain for the animatronic screens and animations with the sheer excitement that we could take pictures during the show now as long as the flash was off.

Jaime came on stage to announce the party would move to the lobby, but we had other plans.

After the show, we grabbed our hoodies from the room and headed up to the Lido deck to watch Pitch Perfect 2 at the Dive In Movies. Does it get better than movie musicals under the stars? I don’t think so. We settled in with some popcorn and got about halfway through the movie before the skies opened up and unleashed all the rain it could hold onto the open deck.

We grabbed some coffee in the Marketplace and headed back to the room to watch some TV, and that’s where we get back to those famous last words.

I hope the ship rocks.

Every time we cruise, I tell Mom that I’m wishing for some waves and motion. One, because her reaction is always to snap back and tell me to Stop it right now, Nicole (because my appreciation for motion apparently skipped a generation and went straight from grandma to me, bypassing Mom and relegating her to a lifetime of cruising with Scopolamine patches) but mostly because two, I just get really good, solid sleep when there’s motion.

So as I’m writing in my travel journal at 1:30 in the morning, we’re beyond the ship rocking. In all our nights at sea, this was by far the choppiest seas I’ve ever sailed on (to that point, anyways – we still had several more nights ahead of us). We were speeding south towards Aruba (which is so deep in the Caribbean that you’re basically in South America) and the sea swells only served to punctuate just how fast we were going.

And instead of lulling me to sleep, I laid in bed, feeling the waves roll beneath me, hoping the next day would bring brighter skies and smoother seas.