wonderful surprise cruise

Carnival Sunrise Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 11
Helpful Votes: 128

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5
Carnival Sunrise

5 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 13, 2024

Ship: Carnival Sunrise

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 10 months ago

Review summary

my brother and I booked this cruise a year ago. once on board and able to get to the room we had t-shirts on our door. I thought they were from carnival since there was a note (looked legit)..I get a text from our parents that said "where's Waldo" and noticed my mom was wearing the tshirt along with my dad and I recognized the top from the red frog bar. I told my brother...omg!!! mom and dad are on board!!! after 10 minutes of trying to find them since they kept moving, we found them. we were so surprised.especially since we found out it was my dad's idea (he likes cruising, but he can take it or leave it), it's really not like him to drop money like that, and REALLY not like him to drive in Miami (they live in ocala fl) they apparently booked in September and kept it a secret from the ENTIRE family (cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma etc) it was great surprise and a wonderful and fun family vacation.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
super fast and easy. our check in time was from 10-1030. we were on the ship by 1050am

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
food was actually really good on the cruise. the food in the dining room was always hot, never cool or cold. desserts were also very good. sometimes they are dry, but this sailing... very good. especially the double chocolate cake and cookies and mint cake

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
we did a few of the trivia games, but other wise just relaxed

Entertainment

3 out of 5
these weren't my favorite shows. the soul bound show was good. dancing and music was good, just wasn't exciting like epic rock or America rocks (my faves)

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
dining staff, Jamir in the atrium bar, room steward were all fantastic. red frog bartenders were kind of hit and miss.... but I basically blame the other guests. I was raised to wait my turn and if others are there first, you let them go first. apparently others were taught differently

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
very clean

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
we had a balcony room on lido. always clean. great size. 1 thing I have noticed carnival has done WAY better than ncl or rcl is the closet and storage space

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
they are trying an express debarkation where you pick your slot in the hub app and debarkation day you get a notification when you're cleared to go. we were in group 1 and my parents were in 2, we were all off together around 750 and we picked 8-830 debarkation times. hardly any lines to get off the ship, no lines in the buffet or through customs. this was absolutely amazing. no wait for an elevator to
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12 Comments

Sogmoore     9 months ago

Sound like a great time. Thanks for sharing

Kiwi247     9 months ago

Thanks for the review. It was helpful on deciding to trying carnival again.

Cruzin4zeBruzin     10 months ago

Cool memory, something you’ll not ever forget. Thanks for sharing the experience.

javawoody     10 months ago

Nice surprise, thanks for sharing

Gwbigdog     10 months ago

Thanks for sharing

Niavlys     10 months ago

Nice story about y parents.. Tks for sharing

cortneyb     10 months ago

jimohio... that was the downfall. my brother and I booked way ahead of our parents. so my brother and I had a room together and my brother doesn't drink at all ( I'm the big drinker of the family lol) it worked out. we each had carnival gift cards from Christmas and I didn't plan on drinking too much (that plan didn't last long) since I have a cruise Monday now with a friend on ncl that.... well, we'll probably make national news lol

karlgrgurich     10 months ago

That’s awesome

JimOhio     10 months ago

Once you found out your parents were aboard, I would have gotten the drink package. Seriously, that was a great surprise and I'm glad you enjoyed everything. It's a small world and boats are even smaller.

cruising2004     10 months ago

What a wonderful surprise! Without a doubt, all of you had an amazing time!’ Thank you for your review.

NavasotaCruiser     10 months ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience with us. Fun to hear of your great family surprise.

Niavlys     10 months ago

Tks for sharing

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