This was exactly the weekend getaway we were looking for. The Sunrise will not be my “go to” favorite ship, but it was certainly nice. We had very rough seas the first night...I felt bad for new cruisers. Didn’t bother us, but the North Atlantic is always a roll of the dice (or a roll of the ship....haha). Bermuda was great, but I’d definitely prefer to go longer the next time. 7 hrs just doesn’t do it justice. We had a great time.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Super fast embarkation. We’ve sailed out of NYC 5 times and this was easily the fastest. Had FTTF and we were in the ship at 11:35.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Great selection. Ate at the Steakhouse first night, Cucina Del Capitano 2nd night and at the dining room last two nights. We also ate at the Sea Day Brunch. Room service was spot on. Servers were fantastic. We didn’t go to any of the buffets, so we avoided those lines. When you consider that they serve somewhere around 30,000 plates a day (Mait’re D said that last night...wow!) the quality is quite good. I did notice that we aren’t offered coffee/tea after dinner, and if you don’t ask for a drink menu/wine list you won’t get one. I liked the use of the edible straws :).
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Used the spa, spent a lot of time on the jogging track and aft pool upper deck. There was never a problem finding a chair unless you wanted to go to the Serenity Deck. School is in session, so noticeably fewer kids, but pools could get busy. They had the ropes course closed the first day, no doubt due to the winds. The shuffleboard table at Red Frog is chipped up beyond belief. We still played, but it’s very worn. We enjoyed the electric violins a lot, but have seen other live music on other ships that are better than some of the other options. I did feel like the activities had many trivia and karaoke options that just don’t interest us. So, we chilled on our own.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Service, as always, was fantastic. Our room steward, Chai, was great - probably the best room steward we’ve had in our 7 cruises. Special shout out to Zsussana at the main atrium bar. She’s awesome. We’ve always found the staff to be accommodating. The only minor issue we had was an electrical door in our cabin that needed a key to lock it closed. Our room steward called immediately the first day. Wasn’t fixed until last night. Again, minor, but didn’t want to have that panel open.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was very, very clean. We saw people cleaning often. That said, it’s also an obvious refurb with lots of rust still on the railings. While the refurb is nice, we did smell sewage a few times and the layout was a bit awkward making it seem like just a ton of stuff packed into a small space. For instance, Java Blue was an incredibly small space. There were no computer kiosks (like on Sunshine) and a very small seating area. There was one area on deck 9 at the Lido Buffet where there’s a small area to walk through, with a Java Blue
kiosk that just jammed up without a lot of people. That said, it was incredibly clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Great cabin with a bowling alley balcony. 2 chairs, one lounger. It was super quiet.
Ship tip
Just be aware of the flow when trying to get to restaurants/venues on decks 3-5. Not a big deal, but just look at the maps
This was fantastic. We checked our luggage and were still off the ship at 7:35. We quickly got thru customs. I know some people will complain if they parked that we docked at pier 88 vs at 90. So, we had to walk from one parking area to the other. Honestly, the elevator took us up and it was a 3 min. jaunt over to the pier 88. No biggie, not Carnival’s fault at all...I bet the port authority tells them where they can and can’t dock...
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