Cruise Travel

Star Wars Day at Sea on the Disney Cruises

Did you hear the news? Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ becomes the fastest movie To $1 billion dollars! That number sure does the talking for families’ love of Star Wars in the United States. If you are one of those families, you will heart Disney Cruises even more!

Starting in the New Year, your family can celebrate the legendary adventures and iconic characters from the Star Wars saga during a brand-new, day-long celebration aboard eight special sailings on the Disney Fantasy: Star Wars Day at Sea.

Star Wars Day at Sea combines the power of the Force, the magic of Disney and the excitement of cruising for an out-of-this-galaxy experience unlike any other. Occurring one day during each of eight Disney Fantasy sailings, Star Wars Day at Sea will transport guests to a galaxy far, far away – in the Western Caribbean. The event includes:

Deck party featuring a Star Wars-themed show, plus music, dancing, lasers and fireworks
Meet-and-greets with Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Stormtroopers and other Characters from the Star Wars galaxy
A shipboard version of the Jedi Training Academy where Jedi hopefuls can learn lightsaber maneuvers
Star Wars-themed games and activities at Disneyâ€™s Oceaneer Club and Disneyâ€™s Oceaneer Lab
Out-of-this-world food and beverage offerings
Screenings of the Star Wars filmsâ€”including the only at-sea screening of Episode VIIâ€”plus episodes of Disneyâ€™s animated series Star Wars Rebels
Guest speakers will share stories and behind the scenes information
Exclusive themed merchandise

Itâ€™s a totally intergalactic experience that will thrill all the younglings, Padawans and Jedi Masters in your family.

For more information, visit the Disney Cruise website.

Day 6: Aboard the Carnival Sunshine #Review

We were off the boat right at 7:00am and walking into San Juan, Puerto Rico. This day was all about celebrating our newly 11 year old. How cool is it to celebrate your birthday in Puerto Rico?

Obviously, the entire week was phenomenal but this will remain one of our favorite ports. We did the most sight-seeing at this port. There is a reason for this as San Juan has free public transportation. You can catch the public bus right in front of where you walk off the cruise boat.

We rode the bus for a little bit to just see the area and then departed the bus near the National Park Serviceâ€™s National Historic Site, Castillo San Cristobal. This fort was finished in 1783. It is the largest fort built by the Spanish in the New World. From the National Parkâ€™s website, the San Juan National Historic Site is one of the over 400 parks of the National Park Service. It is comprised of various fortifications, including Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Castillo San CristÃ³bal, most of the city walls, the San Juan Gate and Fort San Juan de la Cruz just across the entrance to the bay.

We were so thankful that the park service had preserved this so the girls, Scott, and I could enjoy this history. You couldnâ€™t get a better in real life history lesson! Did you know, the Spanish spent over 250 years fortifying the prized location of Puerto Rico, since through it, Spain controlled all access in and out of the Caribbean.

Around Old San Juan, you will find several tributes to Christopher Columbus since he is the one that discovered Puerto Rico in 1493. This girls and I had to take our picture by this particular beautiful fountain and monument in Plaza de Colon by Calle Fortaleza and San Francisco Street.

The monument of Christopher Columbus depicts him holding a flag in his left hand and a globe in the right.

After spending a great amount of time exploring Old Fort, we decided to walk through the downtown area. The roads are built with bricks. The architecture in this area was pure amazing. All the details on each building, it reminded you of indeed a Spanish town.

As we were walking, the heat was rising, so we took advantage of Starbucks. Hubby and I had been longing for a good cup of coffee, but decided with the heat we would enjoy frappuccinoâ€™s. Little Sis was very happy to enjoy a Starbucks Frappuccino on her birthday.

She shares a birthday with my oldest brother. We took the time with free wifi to do a little video for him. If you keep your receipt at this Starbucks, you are allowed free wifi for three hours. Score! You will not want to sit three hours in Starbucks at this beautiful port, but the option is there if you need to take the time to catch up with family at home or emails.

After having great family time in the city, it was unfortunately time to head back to the ship.

Everyone had to be back on the ship by 1:30 pm. It was hard to say good bye to this beautiful port.

Isnâ€™t it a breathtaking island? The positive is that there was much fun to be had back on the boat. After enjoying some time in the water park, we headed back to our cabin. It was formal night at dinner so this called for the Spink family to get all fancy once again.

Seafood was the appetizers of choice for us at dinner.

On select nights, your waiters will entertain you with dance and song.

It wasÂ so much fun to see the guests enjoying the evening with the waiters that treated us so great during our entire trip.

You can see why we enjoyed the waiters right? We will never forget Wilfredo, Putra, and Wiguana. They made Sissyâ€™s birthday by surprising her with a Mickey Mouse chocolate melting cake, and made her statue of liberty. It will be a birthday she willÂ remember forever.

The night was capped off with a show by the Playlist Performers. The theme was 70s night! The crowd was very lively for this show. There was singing, laughing, and lots of smiling. What an awesome day!

The family was greeted with a towel animal and a birthday card for Sissy. Our hearts were full as we laid our heads on our pillow.

Our last port of call is next, Grand Turk!

Donâ€™t miss our other days on the Carnival Sunshine!

Day 6

Day 5: Aboard the Carnival Sunshine Review

Over the next few days, I will be sharing recaps from our time aboard the Carnival Sunshine. ItÂ was an amazing experience. Hope you will enjoy our life on the ship. This is a sponsored review but as always, all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

This day brought us into the port at St. Kitts.

Since we arrived into port at 7:00am, there were no lines to depart the boat as most people were still sleeping. This is a smaller island and I will say to enjoy this port to the fullest, definitely purchaseÂ an excursion. We chose to opt out of an excursion on this island and enjoy some shopping/relaxation.

Little Sis enjoyed interacting with the monkeys the most on this island and we had to buy her own stuffed monkey before we left the island. Notice the monkeys in the below pictures?

After spending about two and half hours on the island, we boarded the ship to enjoyÂ the low crowds aboard. The rest of the afternoonÂ was spent at the pool just relaxing with the family. WeÂ had the pool all to ourselves. Since this boat only has one family pool, it is hard to enjoy it on sea days so we took advantage of it on this day.

Also, the girls and I enjoyed the water slides. Again, there were no lines so we were having a blast riding as much as our hearts were content.

For lunch, we grabbed burgers from Guy’s Burger Joint. You have to try the burgers at least once when you are on a Carnival Cruise. There are different recipes, but Big Sis and I grabbed the “Plain Jane” and put our own toppings on the burger. No bun for me, but every bite was still delicious.

We ended up leaving the pool around 4:00pm since everyone had to be back on the boat at 4:30. It was a good time to head to our cabin for a little bit of downtime before dinner. It is nice to have a balcony with your cabin as you can take a few moments and relax by the water. You can capture sunsets like this:

Carnival Breeze sailing away.... — Carnival Breeze sailing away….

Dinner was awaiting us! I thought I would share with you our menu from the night so you can get an idea the type of dinner options you have to choose from each night.

As you will see from the pictures below, I chose the asparagus vichyssoise as my starter. This was the best chilled soup. Delicious! For our main meals, Hubby and I both chose the petite filet mignon and Big Sis chose the shrimp and fries from the comfort kitchen. Pumpkin pie was the dessert of choice for the night. Isn’t it amazing at the options? Anyone up for ox tongue?!

The night was capped off by a show with Dana Tison. A comedian juggler?! Who knew there was such a person? He did a great job and definitely had intriguingÂ juggling skills.

Our monkey and towel animal greeted us as we made it back to our cabin for the night!

San Juan, Puerto Rico is up next…

Donâ€™t miss our other days on the Carnival Sunshine!

Day 5

Day 4: Aboard the Carnival Sunshine Review

Over the next few days, I will be sharing recaps from our time aboard the Carnival Sunshine. We just arrived back home in NC and it was an amazing experience. Hope you will enjoy our life on the ship. This is a sponsored review but as always, all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Our first day to land. We put our feet on the ground in St. Maarten. This island has received rave reviews from family and friends. We were hoping it lived up to all the hype. Check out our view as we pulled into port.

This is the first morning that we ate breakfast on the Lido Deck. This is your only option when it is a port day. Believe me though, you have plenty of menu options from breakfast burritos to a full buffet bar.Â I chose a delicious bowl of piping hot oatmeal with a side of fresh fruit.

It was time to gather our things and head to the gangway. When you arrive at port at 9am, you have to wait for an announcement before you can make your way down to deck 0 to leave the boat. We waited until about 9:30am to make the trek to avoid long lines. Once off the boat, your family has several photo opportunities by Carnival. The pictures will be ready for you to view once you are back on the boat in the evening. You can purchase or politely put them in the recycle bin.

As we made our way into port, there are several stores on the island to do shopping. The family casually walked through a few stores and then headed for the water taxi line. The round trip fee is $7 for each person. The water taxi takes you over to the beach. The water is so beautiful.

Beware of the locals’ sales pitches. This is how they make their living and we were asked multiple times if we wanted to rent an umbrella and chairs. Politely say no and head to your spot on the beach. We were able to put out our towels and things along the shore so we could keep a close eye on our belongings. Hubby, the girls, and I dived into the beach. The water was so warm and so blue. This is where we spent the next two and half hours. Believe me, we could have stayed all day.

Before heading back to the boat, we strolled through more shops and then decided to take a break at a restaurant on the beach. Big Sis and I ordered nude coladas, Hubby ordered him a drink and Little Sis wanted french fries. It was nice to just relax there on the beach with the family.

Antigua was our favorite island from our last cruise trip. St. Maarten is now definitely competing as our favorite island. It was hard to leave.

We boarded the water taxi one last time to head back to the ship. It was an awesome day.

It was time to clean up from all the sand and get ready for our 6:00pm dinner reservations. As of Day 4, our wait staff have become close friends. During dinner tonight, they showed us family dinner games such as the shovel game and ice fishing.

Much laughter was had at the dinner table. Speaking of dinner, the food was delicious. Hubby and Big Sis ordered NY Strip Steak, Little Sis ordered chicken nuggets, and I ordered barbeque cornish hen. The cruise is your opportunity to order foods that you would not ordinarily eat back home as all the food is inclusive with your ticket price.

After dinner, it was perfect night to enjoy corn hole with the family. It is amazing how much we laugh at ourselves, but laughter is indeed good for the soul. It brings you closer and we love to laugh. Of course, hubby beat us in corn hole. Still so much fun.

We capped the night with a magic show with the famous Bobby Borgia. He had us in awe at his magic tricks and illusions. Carnival did a great job selecting him as one of the nightly entertainment guests.

Another full day filled with great family memories. We were greeted by our towel animal and were fast asleep as soon as we hit our pillows.

Don’t miss our other days on the Carnival Sunshine!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 3: Aboard the Carnival Sunshine Review

Over the nextÂ fewÂ days, I will be sharing recaps from our time aboard the Carnival Sunshine. We just arrived back home in NC and it was an amazing experience. Hope you will enjoy our life on the ship. This is a sponsored review but as always, all thoughts and opinions are of my own.

Day 3 of the cruise started out with enjoying the Sea Day brunch once again. This is a great option if you like the relaxing atmosphere and would rather not partake in the buffet on the Lido Deck. The girls enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes, while hubby and I enjoyed an omelet. There is quite the variety on the menu from eggs, to steak, to salmon.

As soon as brunch was finished, we did not waste any time to make the trek up to the top deck.

I wasÂ so thankful for this run/walk track on the Carnival Sunshine! Even though we were on vacation, there wereÂ a lot of great foods weÂ wanted to taste test. This track helpedÂ to keep the weight in check! Also, how about exercising with this view? Ten laps around the track is one mile.

Hubby and I walkedÂ laps while the girls played pool.

You will never get bored on this ship. If you do, then it would be your own fault. There is so much to do. Finally, we made our way to the water park.

Big Sis enjoyed the Carnival WaterWorks. The positive about this water park is there’s something for all ages. Parents can have fun with the kids or the parents can sit close by while the older kids experience the park. Two big water slides will keep the big kids entertained while two very small slides along with a splash zone will keep the younger kids smiling. Chairs are aligned all around the water park for parents to keep close eye on the children.

During lunch, Big Sis and I decided to try the Ji Ji Asian Kitchen. This is no extra charge to dine during lunch. You are able to selectÂ your own fresh ingredients in an bowl and the chef will grill it right in front of you.

Lunch wasÂ amazing! It was nice to eat all fresh ingredients and see it cook right in front of you. This became ourÂ favorite lunch spot!

A storm started brewing but did not last long. The gusty winds did stay but it helped cool off the top deck of the ship. The girls were enjoying standing up in the winds. The Spink Family could not let a day go by without getting in a game of ping-pong. This has become our favorite game of the cruise. We played for another hour until it was time for Disney Trivia.

The Spink Family totally rocked Disney Trivia!

It was so much fun guessing, sharingÂ laughs, and seeing Ariel make an appearance fromÂ theÂ seas.

Trivia is a great time to come in from the sun and have great laughs with the family on a Sea Day in an air conditioned room.

After a break in our cabin, it was time for our dinner reservations at Cucina Del Capitano.

This is a family style Italian restaurant. This is an extra charge in the evenings to eat at this restaurant. The charge is $15 for adults and $5 for children. I ensure you the price is definitely worth the food you receive. You will select an appetizer, main entree, and a dessert. The restaurant does have gluten free options. Big Sis and I chose to start out with caesar salads while hubby decided to try the meatballs. Both dishes were not an disappointment. He said the meatballs come inÂ second to his grandmother’s recipe.

For our main entrees, I chose to try the sirloin steak marinaded in red wine. The steak was tender and tasted delicious but I will admit, did not beat the taste of the filet mignon from the brunch. Hubby and Big Sis both selected the chicken parmesan. Thumbs up all around for their dishes. Check out the huge portions:

Every last bite of was gone and both agreed it was the best chicken parmesan they both have tasted in an Italian restaurant. Little Sis selected one of her favorite dishes, macaroni and cheese. She said it wasn’t as good as mom’s but came in a close second. Not sure if she was being kind to me or what, but she ate every bite!

The night was ended with the comedy show in the George Lopez Punchliner Comedy Club.

The 8:30 show is the family show. The entire family laughed throughout the show. It was very tasteful and good clean family comedy. We all recommend the show.

Of course, the towel animal greeted us as we made it back to our cabin. Another great day at sea.

Tomorrow, we finally make it to land with our first stop being St. Maarten. The girls were fast asleep after a fun-filled day.

Don’t miss our other days on the Carnival Sunshine!

Day 3

Cruise Travel

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