Carnival Sunshine Review, Part 10: Final Sea Dayfeatured

The last day of any trip is the worst, isn’t it?

Even when you’re ready to go home (and how often does THAT happen?), the last day always means packing. And when the sun is shining and a beautiful day beckons you out, how can you say no?

In typical fashion, I put off packing for as long as I could. I hate packing for travel. I hate packing to go home even more. Maybe it’s because packing is part of that anticipatory part of travel. Maybe it’s because packing always makes me second guess everything I’m putting in a suitcase. Half the time, I think I’ve brought too much and the other half, I hate everything I’m packing. I try to stick to a five minute rule when I’m at work: if the task can be completed in five minutes or less, I do it immediately. Packing shouldn’t have taken long – my stuff was contained to one drawer, one closet and one shelf in the room and I kept pretty tidy on this trip. I put it off anyways in favor of breakfast and lounging in the sun.

After a quick stop for arepas and a chat with my favorite arepa man at the Blue Iguana Cantina, we started looking for some deck chairs. Literally nothing. Lido deck? Not a single chair. Deck 10? Nothing. Serenity? Nada. And even worse than not being able to find an open chair is watching chairs sit claimed for literally hours on end before anyone shows up to claim them. We found some seats by the bar and watched as pool security at the Serenity deck put stickers on chairs that were claimed by those elusive chair hogs.

We sat out through the viewing of Jaime’s morning show and then headed inside so Mom and Stephanie could begin their packing. I was inside for a few minutes before I just had to be outside and went back to Serenity. It was still far too early for me to pack and the warm ocean air was too tempting.

And when my skin was threatening a sunburn and tried to push me inside towards my packing, we found a new distraction: brunch. We still had free drink vouchers burning a hole in our pockets, and since the Marketplace lunch was going to be featuring the Chocolate Extravaganza, sea day brunch was the perfect excuse not to pack.

It wasn’t too crowded in the Sunrise dining room. We were seated right away and were attended to by a team of servers and a bar waitress who provided excellent service to match the great brunch fare we were dining on.

Popovers

Fresh Fruit Platter

Flamin’ Tomatoes Soup

Eggs Benedict

Bagel Breakfast

Cheddar Grits and Chicken Sausage

Steak-n-Eggs

The full spread

Double Chocolate Brownie

Banana Cream Pie

Caramelized Cheesecake

After brunch, we sat out on the promenade on deck 3 for a little while, just watching the water, listening to the sound of the waves as they lapped up against the ship we’d only call home for one more day.

Eventually, we tore ourselves away from our loungers to go back to Jaime’s Q&Awesome, where Jaime was answering questions about the ship, life onboard and the crew. Darnell stole the show when describing Jaime’s cabin versus his cabin. Long hallways, big screen TV’s, grandiose fixtures…I’m very sure he was taking some liberties and exaggerating some, but it made for an entertaining show.

After the Q&Awesome, I couldn’t put off packing for too much longer, so we headed back to the room so I could get a start before the Past Guest Party. Our room was so functional with a lot of deceptive space, and my stuff was contained to my shelf/drawer/closet, so packing literally took minutes, giving us extra time to…spend outside. We walked a lap around deck 10, and the waterworks looked AWESOME. Not a space that quite appeals now, but I’d have loved that when I was younger!

When we made our way to deck 4 to the Liquid Lounge for the party, there was already a line formed 15 minutes before the start time. Thankfully, they opened the floodgates a few minutes early.

The party is no longer called the Past Guest Party and is now the Diamond and Platinum Reunion. They mimicked a picnic, with checkerboard tablecloths lining tables, trays of colorful drinks, and games set up around the lounge. At the risk of offending the Reds and Golds who got cut out of this party, this was SUCH a better experience than the previous Past Guest Party. Appetizers were better. Drink service was better. There was space and it was lit up instead of held in dim lighting, and everyone was in a better mood as a result of it. The previous iteration of the Past Guest Party was too crowded for anyone to really have a good time.

We gravitated out to the deck again after the party. Anytime we had free time today, we just naturally gravitated outside. It’s our happy place. Being on the ocean, seeing it, feeling it…it’s the best. There’s nothing like it.

We wanted to see the sunset because we’d been in dinner just about every night during sunset, but it was just too cloudy. We went back to the room to finish up packing and weighing our checked bags and then headed to Ji Ji’s for dinner.

I’d read good things about Ji Ji’s before we boarded, but let me tell you, this was probably one of the best dining experiences we’ve had onboard a cruise ship period. The attention to the most minute of details, from the plating to the presentation to the service is unlike anything else.

We walked in and were greeted by the chefs, who were working in front of see through glass paneling, were quickly given menus and a brief explanation of how things work. Everything is served family style, so for us, they recommended three apps, three entrees, three sides and three desserts.

We loved everything. Seriously. Not one thing we didn’t like. Service was slow to start due to a large party but they quickly apologized for it and it didn’t bother us in the least as we sampled an amuse bouche of crisps with dipping sauces.

The meal was a feast in every sense of the word. Pure gluttony. Highlights? The Kung Pao Chicken (which they can do to any level of spicy – we chose medium) and the soup that comes in a big pot that you serve out family style. And the pork belly, too – it literally melted in our mouths.

Chicken & Cilantro Root Soup

Chicken Spring Rolls

Slow-Braised Pork Belly

Slow-Braised Wagyu Beef Short Rib

Kung Pao Chicken

Peppered Beef

Himalayan Basmati Fried Rice

Hakka Style Noodles

Blistered Beans

Fried Wonton

Rose Crème Brulee

Caramelized Crepes

A sweet ending: housemade fortune cookies and fruit leathers

We rolled ourselves out of dinner to head to the Liquid Lounge for Epic Rock, which is, by far and away, the best of the Playlist Production shows we’ve seen. There’s a lesser reliance on the animatronic scenes and just a really solid set list to go with some phenomenal performances. I’ve been critical of the 2.0 shows, but I’ll give credit where it’s due, and this show is really, really great.

After the show, we headed back to the room to put our bags out and then Stephanie and I went up to the promenade deck and then Serenity to star gaze.

We grabbed some cookies and ice cream to finish off our day and then headed to the room, not ready to go to bed and end our final day on the ship.