Just before the holidays, I joined a few other bloggers as part of a Men Who Blog trip to experience the Carnival Sunshine ship. We journeyed on an eight-day cruise through the southern Caribbean with stops Aruba, Bonaire, and Grand Turk with days at sea to experience all the ship had to offer. This was my first my cruise as a grown up, with my previous cruise adventure being one when I was a young teen (about a decade ago since I’m still a twenty-something). After flying into Fort Lauderdale from Westchester, going on the bus shuttle to the dock, and checking into the cruise, my adventure started.

While there’s literally dozens of things to do, see and experience onboard a Carnival ship, these were my personal favorites:

Balcony Rooms

There’s nothing better than waking up to the ocean breeze while sailing across it. While the interior rooms will save you some money, splurge a little more and upgrade to one with a balcony. There are several different balcony options as well, depending on the amount of space you’d want out there (and also in the room).

Speciality Dining

While there’s a ton of food options already available with your standard cruise rate (among them being Guy’s Burger Joint, the big buffet on the Lido deck, the main dining, and a Mexican cantina – which has these amazing breakfast tacos), there’s speciality dining options that comes at an extra cost. Worth the extra splurge a couple times during a week long and plus cruise, make sure to check out Ji Ji Asian Kitchen for a line up of eclectic Asian cuisine. Ji Ji’s was clearly a favorite for all of my fellow travelers and will be for you too I’m sure 🙂

Dr. Seuss Breakfast

Another additional speciality dining option that was more fun than I expected it to be was the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast. Whimsically entertaining, you are presented with a menu that any Dr. Seuss fan will want to order everything off of it from – including the classic dish the experience is named after. Through the breakfast, various characters join in for the fun such as the Things, Sam I Am and the Cat in the Hat. Seuss-themed activities and fun can be found throughout the cruise as well.

Top Cruise Entertainment

So Carnival has quite a line up entertainment that’s available to all guests. For families and general fun for all, along with the Seuss activities, parades and the breakfast, there’s also Hasbro, The Game Show (yours truly got to join and our team won the round!), the WaterWorks water park, karaoke (a couple of nights with the chance to sing with the house band), and full on musical productions (make sure to catch Epic Rock when it’s performed). A couple 21+ entertainment to check out is the late night comedian performances at the Punchliner Comedy Club for adult jokes and the hypnotist performance at the Limelight Lounge.

Dive-in Movies

A unique entertainment option you can only do on a cruise is the dive-in movies. Where else can you enjoy a movie theatre like film showing under the stars as you sail through the ocean? Carnival does a great job with this, offering two types of movies each night – one for kids and families (such as Minions while I was onboard) and a later one for teens and adults (like San Andreas at the time).

The Fitness Center and Spa

Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean you need to feel like you can’t keep to your regular fitness routine. The Carnival Sunshine offers a number of fitness options from machines to utilize such as ellipticals and treadmills, weight machines and free weights, and for an extra costs, there’s also classes you can sign up for. In case you like to workout in the sun, there’s also a track on the roof of the ship in the SportsSquare area – along with games such as basketball, mini-golf and a giant shuffle board. Then, if you’re looking for peaceful relaxation that’s away from everyone, try a service at the Cloud 9 Spa.

Adults-Only Deck

Need I say more? If you’re not traveling with kids, set up camp here early when you want to lay down, take in the sun and get your choice of lounger, canopy, or a private pod.

Photos: Andrew Villagomez

Follow Vee Travels on Twitter and Instagram: @VeeTravels
‘Like’ and follow Vee Travels on Facebook

READ MORE:

5 Cool Things About Mexico City

Italy Travel Photo Diary

New York City’s Newest Hotels

The Best Travel Movies to Watch on Netflix