A Tale Of Two Ships

It was back to the office for me this week after my trip to see two very different ships, Carnival Sunshine and Aegean Odyssey , and they really are very different! The trip was a real treat and just shows that the only way you can really get to know the product is to visit the ships.

My first visit was to see Carnival Sunshine. The trip started on Sunday afternoon where I met up with my colleague Anne to travel down to Gatwick by train, it was a lovely sunny day and the train was early ! Well it wasn`t really as  we had got on the wrong train, luckily no one wanted to check tickets as the train was packed and after all, it was Sunday ! We arrived at St Pancras station to catch our connection to Gatwick  and had time to grab a quick drink and have a look around the shops. Arriving at the airport we then checked into the Hilton hotel as the flight was early the next morning. The hotel is really good and, as you can walk straight through to the South Terminal, makes it really easy to get to both terminals at Gatwick.

I love airports, and we checked in early for our British Airways flight to Pisa, allowing time for a little retail therapy en route. The flight was a little late but made up the time and we arrived into Pisa airport bang on time and delighted to see the sunshine. The airport is lovely, surrounded by lawns and flowers and the journey to the port of  Livorno is only around 20 minutes or so, you can even see the Leaning Tower from your coach seat.

The arrival at the ship is always one of the most exciting parts and we were soon embarking this lovely new ship, well the ship is not new she was the old Carnival Destiny, who has had a multi million dollar make over. The central atrium soars above as you look up, decorated in warm tones of orange and gold.

We were shown to our cabin which was balcony on deck 7. The cabins have been refurbished in a blue and beige colour scheme, even the bathroom was blue! I would say the cabins are clean, with ample storage space but still look like cabins that have been ” done up” as opposed to a brand new luxury ship, the bathroom is quite basic and the shower an old style one with a plastic curtain pulled across it. Some nice little touches though with even a small tube of toothpaste provided in each cabin.

We quickly unpacked and, eager to explore, set up to the top decks to look at the pool  areas in the lovely warm Italian sunshine. So our tour of Carnival Sunshine had begun and there is a lot more to tell about this ship, even though we only spent 2 nights on board.