Over crowed refurbished Ship

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 99

Review summary

Cruise on Carnival Sunrise 8/7/2019 thru 8/15/2019 Booked a Suite on Deck 7, Family of 2 Adults and 2 Children. We had 11:30/ 12:00 am Boarding time. When we got to the cruise port it was easy to get into the terminal. First of all, I expected to see a Gorgeous ship after a 200-million-dollar refurbishment. Since we had a Suite, we had priority boarding, which I was told that we would get on the ship as soon as we got there. Then we could proceed to our room once we boarded and it would be ready and that our luggage would be there waiting for us. The room was ready at 1:30 pm and our luggage didn’t arrive until 4:15 PM. We’ve been on numerous cruises and this didn’t surprise me at all. I don’t sweat the small things. Room was nicely decorated, and we had plenty of room for the 4 of us. Bathroom was nice but there was mold around edges of outside of tub. Our Room Stewards name was I Putu, who was always there when you had a question and always Greeting you with a Smile and a Hello. He was the best room steward anyone could ask for. He always had our room spotless and made up and turned down the room very quickly. These stewards always are working very hard throughout the day. Then there’s the Breakfast Buffet in the Lido Deck. I HIGHLY recommend that you stay away from the Lido Deck breakfast lines, it was chaotic any time after 7:30am and for lunch. At lunch It took more than 45 minutes just to get a grilled cheese sandwich from the deli line with only 10 people in front of you. The lido deck buffet is seriously understaffed. These people work their tails off and have people being rude to them, which they don’t deserve. I highly recommend you go to the Sunrise Restaurant for your Breakfast every day. It was nice to sit down for breakfast and not wait in line for 30 minutes or longer. Lunch was the same way, it was like a feeding frenzy every day. We would wait for it to calm down and then go to lunch which wasn’t that bad. Food was good in the Lido Deck every day during lunch time. Guy’s Burgers was the Best, followed by the Blue Iguana Restaurant which had Taco Bowls and other fine Mexican Food, then the Pizza Restaurant. The Guy’s Bar B Queue was also Tasty on Sea Day’s. For Dinner we were in the Sunshine Restaurant at table 617. At first it seemed the workers were overwhelmed and over worked. We had 3 of the best waiters we could of asked for. The head waiters name was Henry C. from the Philippines, Team waiter Jerry Boy Gomez also from the Philippines( JERRY also worked the Italian Restaurant during lunch time) and team waiter Ihram from Indonesia. Once they got stuff together, they were outstanding. Like I said before, this ship is understaffed, and these workers are overworked. The entertainment of the Flying Scotsman was the best I’ve seen. He had so much energy and never stopped working. The guy was unbelievable. I don’t know how someone could do that day in and out with so much enthusiasm. He was just fantastic. The problem with this boat is that they added more passengers and the boat was not originally built for that many people. Forget trying to get into the Lido buffet at lunch time because you had a line from Guys’ Burgers and a line from the Blue Iguana restaurant in the way of getting access to the Lido Restaurant. You actually had to go through the seating areas of these 2 restaurants to get into the Lido restaurant. If anyone tells you when you are booking a cruise on Carnival that you have PRIORITY over the other passengers because you booked a Suite OR HIGHER ROOM, DON” T BELIEVE THEM, they are not giving you the correct information. I went down to customer service desk and they said you stand in line with everyone else. The special line is only for the Diamond and Platinum guest only. ONE LAST THING, PRIORITY DISEMBARKATION, DON’T BELIEVE THEM, IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!!! We had Priority Disembarkation, on the sheet we received the Morning before we were Disembarking, it stated and I quote: arrive at 9 AM in the Liquid Lounge and you will be escorted off the ship by a Carnival Representative, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. We ended up getting off the ship at 10:30 AM and we had a Van waiting for us to get back home. Overall, we had a good time on the cruise, but the ship has a lot to be desired with, the ship was not what I expected. I thought with a 200 million Dollar makeover it would be newer and cleaner. But all they did was add more rooms and 500 more. It’s like taking 100 lbs. of garbage and trying to stuff it in a 10 lb. bag. After all, said and done, you must make the best of what you dealt with. First port of call was Turks and Caicos. Rented a Cabana, (Never did this before) at Margaritaville, what a Waste of time and money. We had a waiter named Moniqua who gave us a buzzer to page her to order things from restaurant. Tried using the buzzer on 4 different occasions, she never bothered to come over, went and ordered from the restaurant ourselves. Finally, when we were ready to leave, (Guess since we weren’t ordering drinks, she didn’t care about us) she came over. She noticed that we had food and sodas and asked why we didn’t buzz her. I replied that we tried to buzz her 4 times. She picked up the buzzer and pushed it and she replied, and I Quote, it works fine when I push it and proceeded to throw the buzzer down on the counter and just walked away from us, continually stating that it worked fine for her. Guess I was lying that we pushed the button 4 times. She had a really bad attitude. I approached the Management from Margaritaville, and they said that they would take care of it. I filled out a survey card that the management asked me to fill out and I guess I won’t hear from them anytime soon. Next port was Puerto Rico: We walked off the boat and took a Taxi for $21.00 for 6 of us to Isla Verde Beach. It took about 20 Minutes or less. The beach was Beautiful, and umbrellas and chairs were very reasonable. Chairs were $4.00 apiece and Umbrellas were $10.00 apiece. Great Beach day, water was beautiful. Last port was Dominica Republic, We stayed at the cruise port and the kids enjoyed the pools and water slides that were available at the pool. We originally booked a resort for the day but with all the issues with the drinks and deaths, we didn’t want to chance anything. Well, that’s about it and we did have a Good Time on our cruise.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Grand Turk Island

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

Disembarkation

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