Oh my gosh, we are back from another cruise! This one was super special, since we took our daughter’s family with us and that meant the first cruise for Karina, Jason and our grandsons Wyatt and Owen. And once she heard about it, my sister Linda just had to join in the fun with the boys, bringing along “Uncle Norm”.
This was a 5 day cruise out of Charleston, SC aboard Carnival Sunshine heading to Nassau and Half Moon Cay. We all gathered at my brother Jeff’s house days before departure, since it was only 2 hours from the port. It made for a great start to the cruise, even though it did leave my brother with major FOMO as we departed Charleston!
So what happened, how did it go, what are some stories from the trip?? I will mostly let the pictures tell the story, but here are some highlights (plus a NEW video of the fun):
It was a BLAST! Our rooms were on Deck 9, the Lido Deck, all the way forward. Only a few rooms have this full wall of glass facing the ocean ahead for an amazing view. The boys totally loved it.
Ice cream and pizza were a hit – Wyatt had a record 6 cheese pizzas one day, Owen was not too far behind.
Waterslides were also a hit, but maybe not the big ones. Wyatt was brave to try one of the racing waterslides the first day with Karina, but probably didn’t know just how fast it would be. One and done for him, but he quickly made up for that on the smaller slides with Owen. Whole lotta splashing going on.
The shuttle tender ride from the ship to Half Moon Cay was pretty much a sardine packed trip, but the beach and water more than made up for it. Absolutely the best beach in the Caribbean and we all made a nice long day of it. Uncle Norm was definitely a perfect playmate: “quit acting like a kid”.
The Serenity Decks (three of them) for adults were a nice break for us old folks and they gave a nice overview of the entire midship pool deck and it also was good for sunset watching. The bar was close at hand, too.
Most of us stayed onboard when in port at Nassau. As you can see by the pictures, the arrival area of the port is undergoing some major changes and all the docks have been rebuilt. Surprisingly we were the only ship in port that day. Linda and Norm took a snorkel excursion to a reef that had been pretty much blitzed in the past but they said it had recovered wonderfully over the 2 year pandemic. Ah well, Jackie and I missed out on that one, but the time aboard with the family was pretty great too, much quieter.
The grandsons were very well behaved during dinner and sea day brunch in the main dining room, with a couple of activity books to help pass the time.
Ah the casino – something that has not always been kind to me, but entertaining anyway. I bet conservatively and always hope my money will last long enough to have fun, but for two nights the craps table was hot. Lots of fun and way longer than I expected – plus I definitely came away with some chips this time around. Yay me.
The arcade and candy shop were also pretty exciting for the boys – heck anytime you have pizza, ice cream and gummies 24/7 it’s a good time.
Probably the only odd moment was one late night toward the end of the cruise when I discovered I had squeezed out anti-itch cream on my toothbrush instead of toothpaste. I just caught it before brushing, but I was clearly getting cruise-tired!
I know we all declared it a major success and totally enjoyed ourselves – with thoughts of doing it all again (well, way into the future at least).
What’s next for us (after we do laundry and get our bearings)? We have a week of camping at our local lake with paddleboards, kayak and the grandsons – plus Alex is going to try out his new/old camper. Only one month of summer before everyone else is back to school and work, so we have to make haste. Thanks for joining us on our travels and check out the videos posted on the PLACES and VIDEOS page.
Adventures with Doug and Jackie 
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