I enjoyed my 4-night cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos. This was my first time taking a cruise all by myself -- and I truly enjoyed the experience.
I booked this cruise last minute upon finding that I had suddenly had a week available -- plus I desperately needed to flee our intolerable San Diego November, where it threatened to rain and the temperature was about to plummet into the mid 50's. This cruise was cheap -- I think they even waived the single supplement.
** Getting aboard **
Ft. Lauderdale port traffic was not bad, and the time from getting out of the Lyft to getting onboard clocked in at 15 minutes.
** The Cabin **
The day before, a Carnival rep had called me and asked if I wanted to upgrade to a suite for $60/nite more. Yes sir! Please take my credit card number! You do work for Carnival, right?
I don't think I'd ever pay typical rates for that "Ocean Suite," seeing what it included above and beyond a regular balcony cabin: a tub that I'd never set ass in, way too many storage cubbies, and a vinyl-clad sofa. However, the extended balcony was able to house a lounger in addition to the regular chairs, and my luggage somehow also got on the ship in 15 minutes, all smuggled booze intact.
There was a bad sewer smell in the bathroom for the first day and the toilet quit its suck'n'flush thing; plumbers fixed all that within 10 minutes of request.
** The Ship **
This ship got refurbished earlier in the year, and it better have: the Sunrise was previously known as the Triumph, which you may recall as the ship that lost power and went adrift in the Gulf of Mexico for several days, resulting in what became known alternately as "The Lettuce Sandwich Cruise" and "The Poop Cruise."
Part of the downside of the renovation is that cabins were added to the Lobby and Promenade decks, which cut down on public areas -- all in order to increase the number of passengers. Others had complained this resulted in overcrowding; I thought it was fine.
The Lido Deck, where I spent much of my time, was well laid-out with kind of a stadium-like setup and with plenty of deck chairs.
** The People **
Someone suggested that I search for a Facebook group for the cruise on this date. I did -- and met some great people that way!
In general, the demographics were 40% African American, 20% Redneck, 20% Other White People, and 20% Everything Else. There were hardly any unsupervised lil' hellions. Considering the passengers and employees, this cruise was multicultural as fuuuuuu... and everybody got along famously. There is some hope for the world, after all.
The mobility scooter to passenger ratio was roughly 1:10.
** The Food **
The Guy's Burger place and the BBQ (lunchtime only) joint were top-notch. General dining room fare is OK, yet with smaller portions and tinier shrimp than ever.
** The Fun **
Alchemy Bar -- top notch specialty martinis and whatnot. Yaay!
Deck parties -- 80's glow event thing was a lot of fun.
Casino -- stick with craps, for Carnival can't mess with it to reduce payouts, like with blackjack, and some of their dealers are poor at calculating payouts (often in my favor).
Some After-Hours Disco In Ship Basement -- hot, humid, and rife with hurl-stink. Ewww.
Music in general -- I only heard 2 country songs the whole time but a lot of old-school hip-hop and other fun stuff. Yaay! Lucky me!
** All told... **
I'd do it again: cheap as hell and loads of fun. I made some great friends and would probably, given another opportunity to escape this miserable winter, go by myself on this ship again. read more
