This little adventure marked our family's third cruise together... my wife and I have been on others without the kiddos, but this one was like a mini-reunion, with our in-laws and others joining. Sunshine was chosen due to fitting our schedule, as well as the itinerary. This one saw us visiting Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. Collectively, we had been to two of the destinations already, so having two new ones was a draw, too.

We stayed overnight at a Marriott resort (the Grande Vista) near Orlando. If recommendations for a resort are needed, I would HIGHLY give a shout-out for Grande Vista. It was an excellent time. The next morning, we hired a driver through Mears to get us to Port Canaveral. He was semi-retired, an Air Force veteran, and charmed my entire family. Driving from Orlando to Port Canaveral is a breeze. Anyone coming from the Tampa area will be the beneficiary of terrible traffic snags along I-4. We did this last year (cruising around the same time on Magic), and I'd much rather have back-to-back root canals rather than do that again.

Embarkation: We were slated to board at 1:30PM, but arrived much sooner than we thought, so we found ourselves arriving around noon. Mentally, the "oh, goodie, we'll be sitting in a folding chair for hours" factor set in, but Carnival did their best to get through the crowd. Our passports were checked at security, and then we were handed a card to assign us a waiting group. We were assigned Group 5, and were a bit worried, as the usual process has been changed quite a bit. No longer do you walk up to a kiosk, get your picture taken, and then sit some more after getting your Sign-'n-Sail cards... once your group is called you immediately move to get on the boat. I honestly thought we had missed something, but was informed that our Sign-'n-Sail card would be waiting for us in our room's mailbox once the room was ready. Odd, but somewhat efficient... once I got rid of my pre-conceived notion based on past cruises. Read more