I've come full circle once again with Carnival Cruise Lines. This past summer my family embarked on a 9-day European cruise on the completely transformed Carnival Sunshine (formerly Carnival Destiny). The cruise was FANTASTIC— we absolutely adored the ship and all of her Fun Ship 2.0 upgrades {You can read more about our cruise here}.
photo credit: Andy Newman
After a full summer of Mediterranean cruises, the Carnival Sunshine has re-positioned to her new homeport in New Orleans, Louisiana ... and I was invited to take part in the festivities!
First of all, I LOVE NEW ORLEANS— It doesn't take much to convince me to visit. But, Carnival in NOLA is a match made in cruising heaven. Imagine getting the best of both worlds: the history and charm of New Orleans and a Caribbean cruise!
Before Carnival Sunshine left on on its inaugural voyage from the Big Easy, the ship's godmother had to be named. Being that the Carnival Sunshine was formerly Carnival Destiny, it only made sense that the original godmother would be carried over. Lin Arison, a noted philanthropist and author, and wife of the late Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Lines, was honored, once again, as godmother of Carnival Sunshine.
photo credit: Andy Newman
The naming ceremony was kicked off was an awesome performance by former members of the National YoungArts Foundation, a scholarship program Lin co-founded with her late husband to support talented young artists in literary, performing, visual and design arts. Their set captured both the spirit of New Orleans and the fun of the Carnival Sunshine.
I couldn't stay for the inaugural sailing, but friends on board confirmed it was a fantastic cruise. And here's a fun fact: Louisiana's state song is "You Are My Sunshine" — I don't think there could be a more perfect pairing!
Carnival Sunshine will operate a series of seven-day cruises to popular Caribbean destinations through April. Three different week-long itineraries will be offered from New Orleans – an exotic western Caribbean route featuring Belize; Mahogany Bay (Roatan), and Cozumel; a Bahamas/Florida schedule to Key West, Freeport and Nassau; and western Caribbean departures to Montego Bay; Grand Cayman; and Cozumel.
Special thanks to Carnival Cruise Lines for hosting me at the naming of #SunshineNOLA. All opinions are my own.
April Decheine
Wow how fun and exciting, I still have yet to take a cruise, Carnival is a trusted name for me.
Toni
What a fun event. I have never stepped foot on a cruise ship, hopefully one day I will 🙂
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell
What a neat experience to be a big naming event like that! You get to do some cool stuff, girlie.
Donna
I've never been on a cruise, but really hope to some day. My s-i-l and b-i-l are going on one the very beginning of Dec.
Lisa - Between the Kids
That looks like it was so much fun! I really want to go on another cruise.
Marcie W.
We have never had anything less than a fabulous experience aboard Carnival. I'm sure their newest ship is beautiful like the rest of their fleet.
Mickey
That's awesome! I've been on several Carnival cruises and the last couple had a lot of problems with the ships. I'd love to try them again on a newer or upgraded ship!
Orange Smile
I envy you, but only positively 😉 The ship looks gorgeous now and looking at the coming destinations -Bahamas, Montego Bay, Nassau, Belize, hmmm - I want this!