WOW! We had the most fun, amazing and relaxing vacation!! Thank you, Carnival Sunshine!!! We are a family of four. I have two boys age 10 and 5. My husband and I are mid-30s. We have sailed with Royal Caribbean and Carnival. This was my 5th cruise. I absolutely love cruising from nearby ports (NY, NJ, and MD) because it saves on airfare and we love going to Eastern and Southern Caribbean. This cruise sailed to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk from Manhattan, NY. I was apprehensive about the NY traffic on a Tuesday morning, but everything worked out perfectly (with a little patience from the tunnel to the port).

We didn't do much waiting except for when "priority boarders" were able to cut in front of us. I think it would have been even faster if they didn't offer it, but whatever. We kept our money and were on the ship in no time at all. We stayed on the lido deck which was PERFECT!!!!! Absolutely in love with our inside room #9209. This room was literally 3 doors down from everything that mattered most to us. it was not too noisy. There was a late night party on the deck you can hear (only lasted an hour) and was not loud enough to wake our kids, so no big deal. Mary, our steward, was wonderful. Kept us tidy and was friendly.

After the muster station drill, my 10 year old got separated from us. That was so scary. I searched everywhere for him and was panicked. The crew was trying to dance and party all around me to get everyone pumped and I just could not enjoy. One came up to me and I told them my son was lost. They weren't really helpful about it but oh well. I just didn't know what to do. I tried to have him paged and that didn't work. Eventually he returned to our room where I had my husband wait for him and the disaster was over. Definitely be careful after the large group gathering like that. So many people push their way through the crowd and kids get lost. Read more