Carnival Sunshine Cruise from New York to New England and Canada
Carnival Sunshine isn't the most luxurious of ships, but I couldn't fault the food, the friendliness of the staff, the level of service or the cleanliness. It is an older ship that had a few million spent on it a couple of years ago and you can see it. I personally would class it as a 3* superior verging on a 4* ship.
It’s a very easy going ship - not very formal, though there were always people that made the effort to dress well for dinner which was nice to see and lifted the ambience overall. There is an ample choice of places to eat, from Guys Burger Joint (from the TV show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) for a lunchtime stop to Cucina Del Capitano (Italian family food) for dinner, a Blue Iguana Cantina near the pool for Mexican food (I can highly recommend the Tacos) and a Steakhouse for great steaks in a more formal setting. The main dining room itself was well laid out, the staff very attentive, and there was no shortage of choice and diversity every evening.
No one prepared me for the boom of "showtime" over the tannoy halfway through dinner and the waiting staff all starting to dance. A bit disconcerting when you aren't prepared but all good fun and the staff actually really seemed to enjoy it and engage with the diners, even the grumpiest of guest were smiling and joining in by the end of the week!
I did give the on-board spa a try for a Fire and Ice Pedicure. Whilst a bit on the expensive side (though I was fully prepared for that) it was certainly worth it and the spa was booked out every day. If you get a chance on any ship to go for a spa treatment I would highly recommend it. This wasn't the first time I had a treatment on a ship and they really are the very best consultants on-board and have to maintain exceptionally high standards, which they do!
The drinks package included everything we needed it to. We wondered if the 15 drinks maximum a day was going to be enough! Suffice to say - there was no way we were going to drink that much every day and it was good value for money overall.
Our first port of call was Boston. We opted not to take an organised excursion, it is so easy to come off the ship and get the bus into Boston itself. We jumped onto the "T" and made our way out to Cambridge on the outskirts of Boston, which is where Harvard is. I really enjoyed exploring this section of the city with lots of history and quirky little shops. Harvard Yard itself was busy with people coming and going, in preparation for the new students I would imagine. The train journey back into Boston takes you over the Charles River and it is worth the experience. We jumped off near Boston Common and did some exploring and reading up on the history of the Common itself. We had a quick nosy round some shops and spotted Primark, the first Primark in the USA! We stopped off at an Irish Pub to try their Guinness. At $8.50 it needed to be good, which it was!
On our walk back towards the ship we stumbled across a place called The Barking Crab which is a bit of a Boston institution - even though it only opened in 1994! The most amazing seafood restaurant and well worth checking out if you visit Boston!
The second port of call was Portland in Maine, and what a place, I didn't want to leave! We walked off the ship and right into Portland within a few steps. It was easy to jump onto a local excursion and take a quick coach tour around Portland and out to Portland Head Lighthouse. Portland itself is beautiful. They don't allow chain stores so all the shops are boutique and local and original - very refreshing! The people could not have been friendlier, the prices were reasonable and all in all it very much felt homely to me. I couldn't come home without some of their Cabot Cheese - delicious! We opted for a very long lunch at Demillios Floating Restaurant, another seafood restaurant with the best lobster I think I have ever had. They even gave me a bib!
Our third port was St. Johns New Brunswick. Again, we could walk off the ship and straight into the town. It’s a little bit of a sad looking town, that maybe time forgot, but we had a stroll about and visited the famous St. Johns Indoor Market - a really vibrant indoor market with everything from meat to clothes, handicrafts to Dulse - that really surprised me. Would I choose to go back here? Maybe not, but I am glad I experienced it and tried out the Seafood Chowder and Moosehead Beer in the Steamers Lobster Company Restaurant.
We had a day at sea before docking in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After Portland it had a lot to live up to and I had been looking forward to Halifax. It did not disappoint at all, yet again we were able to walk off the ship and within a few minutes we were walking along the boardwalk of Halifax Seafront. Lots of little shops, locals out for their daily run etc. There are big naval links and we visited the museum and specifically the Titanic section. There is also a Titanic graveyard with the local ships that went out to Titanic to retrieve bodies, certainly all very moving. As you will have picked up before - we spent a lot of time eating and drinking here as well! We found a great sea facing restaurant and got stuck into more seafood washed down with local cider - which was really refreshing after all the walking. It is worth the climb up to the Citadel in Halifax, the views over the city and the bay are very picturesque.
There is certainly a lot I can't squeeze into this blog, it feels as if I have almost put too much in already. If you are thinking of cruising or visiting Boston/or Eastern Canada - get in touch. I would love to help you! I have great contacts in this part of the world to make your trip extra special.