I had a great time on the cruise, but how could you not have a great time being in the Caribbean on vacation. The ship however, I did not love. This was my 4th cruise, all with Carnival, but 1st on the Sunshine. Embarkation was a bit delayed due to a medical emergency on the previous sailing but nothing unbearable and we at least had a place to wait indoors.
Our room had a few issues. The sink wouldn't drain, the tv didn't work at all and the window leaked. All of that was taken care of by the next day so no biggie. Unfortunately the boat rocked like crazy and a majority of the passengers were very sick the first night. I don't normally get seasick but this night did me in. The boat ended up being very rocky (more than I had ever experienced on a previous cruise) and we later found out that once of the stabilizers had went out which explains a lot. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of a rocking boat was a rattling window. We mentioned it to guest services and they provided us with ear plugs because the rattling could not be fixed. Other than a few room issues, we had no other problems.
I had read reviews and was a little worried about the amount of people that would be on the ship compared to her size but we had no issues with having to wait in line too long. We enjoyed every meal we had in the dining room. The wait staff and our room steward were always pleasant. I wish we had a little more space up on the deck to lay out or more places in serenity but we always found a spot.
If you value your sleep you don't want this cabin. Too close to the elevators and the window rattles like crazy.
Embarkation was fast and easy.
We toured both sides of the island, Dutch and French. Got to experience a little of Orient Beach, did some shopping in Marigot (you must try the macarons at Sarafina's) and watched planes land and take off at Maho...Great Tour!
We took a taxi to Friars Beach and spent the day. It's a beautiful island. Was very relaxing.
This was my favorite port. I could have spent a week there exploring but unfortunately we were only there from 7am-2pm. we went to both forts and rode around the trolley for free. We had some delicious mofongo at Los Yesos. All in all, a great day.
The water here is beautiful. We always love snorkeling. We chose the reef, rays and conch tour. The water was too rough to be able to dive for our own conch shells but the guys running the tour got us some and we had a delicious conch salad. We also got to play with some sting rays which was an incredible experience.