Excellent itinerary!
Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
13 Night Southern Caribbean Carnival Journeys (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 12, 2019
Ship: Carnival Sunshine
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 5302
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
We absolutely LOVED the itinerary for this cruise! We loved the length of the cruise and all of the places we got to see - St. Thomas, Aruba, Curacao, St. Martin, St. Kitts, San Juan, and Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. The cruise ship itself is older and was refurbished about 5 years ago. The most unfortunate thing about the ship was that it smelled like smoke in many of the main areas where there wasn't smoking allowed. I don't know if it's the ventilation system or if it's just the amount of smoking that goes on in the Casino area. We chose alternate routes for traversing the ship, as walking through the Casino was unbearable for us and we would have to cover our mouth and nose. The Carnival Sunshine is definitely the worst ship I've been on concerning the smoke smell all around the ship. Here are the places I could smell it - Deck 5 area behind the Casino where they have photo ops in the evening; Deck 5 Casino; Deck 3, 4, 5 and up to 8 in the open Atrium area of the ship - which included the shops and Pixels photo area; Decks 6 and 7 midship in the halls (so must assume also in the staterooms); and then Deck 10 Starboard (official smoking area), but spilled into the aft area behind the smoking area and is located right outside the kids club areas; and Deck 3 Port (also official smoking area). For me, at least half to 2/3's of the ship smelled like smoke. Gratefully our room on Deck 5 aft did not smell smoky at all. The ship was clean (other than the smoke issue) and the workers were all very kind, courteous and helpful. The shows were great! Did not attend any of the comedy hours. Our cruise director, Mikey, was phenomenal! Always smiling, dancing, laughing, and getting everyone to join in - so full of energy! Compared to our many Disney cruises the Carnival ship is not as well maintained overall. We observed lots of rusty areas, some ceiling tiles that were in poorer shape, and one of the closet doors in our room was not working properly. It did not in any way spoil our cruise, but just know that you get what you pay for I would have to say that our stateroom (ocean view Deck 5), although smaller than the staterooms we had on Disney or HAL, was extremely functional and had lots of storage both in the stateroom area AND in the bathroom. We were very pleased and were able to move around fairly easily with having three adult people in one room. Loved all of the different eating areas for breakfast and lunch. It helped a lot since the buffet was MUCH smaller than on other cruises we've been on. And one of the highlights, of course, is the Chocolate Melting Cake - oh, how I miss it! Overall a FABULOUSLY SPECTACULAR cruise and would still consider going back on Carnival for sure.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Sunshine Casino
Awful, terrible, horrible - cough, cough, cough. Something should really be done about this. We couldn't even manage to stand in line to get a free lanyard because we couldn't breathe. Do you really think people won't gamble if they can't smoke in the Casino? I think they will just take breaks to go out to a smoking area. We had to navigate around this area all cruise - it was truly the most frustrating aspect of the cruise! And the smoke leaks out into many other areas of the ship - Deck 5 behind the Casino (aft); Deck 3, 4, 5 up to 8 in the open Atrium area; Decks 6 and 7 midship where the staterooms are; and even into the Lido pool area. I would actually spend some money in the Casino if it was nonsmoking, but not like this. Disgusting and Gross!
Photo Studio
The photographers did an amazing job - we had so many great shots to choose from! They were very helpful, knowledgeable, and always smiling. We got the photo package and loved it, especially the canvas. Love that Carnival has so many photo opportunities each night.
Serenity
We loved the Serenity area! It was much easier on my back to have a lounge chair with a cushion on it for At Sea Days. Such a large area on the Carnival Sunshine and the ambiance is just wonderful with the waterfall going into the pool. It's a great place to cool off. We loved being able to sit where you could still hear what was going on in the main Lido pool area. I was up on At Sea Days by 6:30am to get a good chair in the Serenity area - and it was well worth it!
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
We loved our ocean view room right behind the stage (Ocean Plaza) on Deck 5. It was super quiet, smoke free, and off the beaten path (Stateroom #5302).
Ports of call
Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic