Just off the Sunshine for a 4 night cruise out of Charleston to Nassau, Bahamas. This cruise was with myself, hubby and our 2 grandchildren, 6 and 8 years old. I chose this one because I have wanted to take the kids while they would still be in the same Camp Carnival age group and before their 1 yr. old brother is old enough to know he's left behind! Charleston is a short 2 hours away and the Sunshine is a much larger ship than the Ecstasy, that is normally sailing from Charleston. I don’t typically like small ships. Alternately, I did not want to drive 7 or more hours with the kids for a FL port and larger ship, so this rare Sunshine cruise from Charleston fit the bill perfectly.

Embarkation: We arrived at the gate at 11:00am and cars were already being admitted, we went through a line to drop off our luggage, then weaved around where there was a bottle neck for a while, then on to pay for parking, then weave all around and go back out the lot and in again to park. My husband thinks they did all that to keep the lines from getting too long. We then walked to an area to get on a bus to the ship. We did not have that long of a wait, there were several busses lined up and as one filled another pulled up. From the time we got to the gate and onto the ship (through registration, pictures, security, etc.) it was 1:00pm. It did not truly seem like it was that long to get through all of that though. Everything moved smoothly. We asked a woman if the rooms were ready yet and she told us we could go check. Ours was ready, so we left our carryons and went to eat. None of the lines we were in were too long and it didn’t take too long to get through registration, etc. It may have been a little quicker if we were at a higher cruise level or paid for FTTF, but all in all, it was not bad for us and our room was ready!

Having read all the reviews for a year, and you all being able to do the same, I will not give as much detail. I did not find the ship as bad as some make it out to be, but I am also not negative by nature and enjoy any cruise. I go with an open mind and know what to expect in advance. Yes, we did find it difficult to navigate parts of the ship because you cannot get through all the decks from one end to the other, but we eventually learned how to go up or down a level, walk around and go back up or down. The map I picked up (readily available on the Guest Services counter, don’t have to wait in line) to help navigate the ship was very much appreciated and useful. We also took advantage of the posted deck maps at the elevators. Read more