Went from favorite ship to worst ever

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 90

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Carnival Sunshine

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 15, 2017

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

The Carnival Sunshine has been my favorite ship since it came out.  This was my fourth cruise on the ship and I was really looking forward to it.  This was the worst cruise ever.  I had always shared with people how great the ship was since it had all of the amenities of the larger ships, but the ship was smaller, the service better, and the crowds smaller.  This cruise proved me beyond wrong.

 

The Guest services desk was horribly unhelpful and extremely unfriendly.  We travel with a family of 5 in three cabins.  Since there are so few connecting cabins (if any) on this ship, we normally get keys for each other's cabins so that my husband and children and I can all have access to the two primary cabins.  This time, they would only issue one extra key to each cabin because of so called computer confusion issues.  First cruise I have ever had this problem on.  Having 2 or 3 extra keys to a cabin has never caused a problem of any kind, so that was just wrong.  People working at the Guest services desk need to have accurate information so that they can actually help the people who have questions.  This cruise, they seemed beyond clueless.  And they pretty much ignored the platinum line, which is kind of unusual as well.  They really needed more people staffing the services desk.

 

The wifi they so heavily advertise to keep in connection with your travel companions did not work inside the cabins and only in select areas of the ship.  Not only did it prevent communication on their app, it also prevented me from getting the work done that I had to since they internet would only stay connected for maybe up to a minute at a time, no attachments could be uploaded.  I had to type out the descriptions of what needed to be changed so that my office could make the modifications I needed in order to sent out the report we had to complete while I was out on vacation.  This was noted to Guest Services and their only response was to look for little white boxes on the ceiling to find where the wifi was.  Since I have been on this ship 3 times before and had wifi in my room, I know there was a problem somewhere with it, but they acted like it has always been this way.  It annoyed me to no end.

 

This was the most crowded I have ever seen this ship.  The three other times, you could easily get a table for breakfast and lunch (and obviously at your assigned table for dinner).  This time, we ended up having to take food elsewhere to eat.  Fortunately, we were able to get seats on the deck so we could eat other than on the floor.  On the good side, the food at Guy's Burger and the Blue Iguana were fabulous.  The rest of the food (included in the cruise price) on the ship was mediocre to bad.  Getting into the sushi restaurant was extremely difficult, though when we finally got it, the food was good.  Its not the best sushi, but it was the best food I had eaten for dinner on the ship.  We had dinner at Jijis one night and the food tasted really good, but made me extremely sick, so I have no idea how to rate that one.

 

Bar service in the casino was intermittent.  At some times, you could get a drink at a machine, most times, I had to walk to the bar to order a drink.  Slot machines hardly ever pay out, which sucks, but is to be expected.

 

I still cannot figure out where all the extra people came from.  Since it was my fourth cruise on the same ship, I had expected it to be like before.  Somehow things changed, and it was absolutely awful with the people everywhere.  We never were able to get in the comedy show.  I heard through others that it wasn't that great, so we probably didn't miss much.

 

Other passengers can be extremely rude.  This is pretty normal, yet still annoying.  When the cruise is going poorly already, it only makes it worse.

 

I am glad to be back home on land after this horrible cruise.  Though there were a few good things as usual, the bad outweighed the good on this cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

Couldn't get into the comedy show and never go to the production shows, so no rating on this one.

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
flooded bathroom everytime we took a shower. Finally noticed after I let the water heat up a bit too long before I got it that it wasn't me, it was the water backing up through the emergency floor drain on the toilet side of the bathroom. Once reported, it was fixed.

Ship tip

Eat at very weird times since all the tables are full at normal dining times. We had lunch at 220 one port day and got a table, but had to hurry to get food since all the food closes at 230.

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5
If you're on the island more than just a couple of hours, see about booking a cabana. Well worth it for a 6-8 hour stay on the island.
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12 Comments

nashvillecruiser    7 years ago

Also every time we walked to the platinum line we had service right away

sigrom    7 years ago

Been on the Sunshine twice already & loved it! Absolutely no issues. Considering another cruise with her next spring.

stopjordan    7 years ago

Sunshine is regulated to extra guests after the major renovation. So therefore it's a bit tight ship after overcoming to increase the capacity.

sunshinel9ver    7 years ago

nancygal, you are right!!! A cruise or any vacation is what you make of it!! This is a very unhappy person😦😩😫

kmkerr8    7 years ago

I hope it's not so bad when I go in January, but then again I am rather laid back and tend to spend the majority of my time on my balcony!

alanathep    7 years ago

it's too detailed to be a troll. I too, think the Sunshine was not up to snuff when I was on it.

TreaSivels    7 years ago

trolls have nothing better to do but post up lies. man get a life. 😠😡😜

jatwood    7 years ago

we sailed on the Sunshine in March, and though, we didn't care for the itinerary, the ship, crew and food was great.

Skywatcher    7 years ago

Sounds like you encountered the spring break crowd. . . most unfortunate.

nancygal    7 years ago

we've been on tgis shio twice, and at full capacity, we've never encountered anything bad. I think it's what you make of it. I think you should stay on land. you'll be happier!!!!

karla54956    7 years ago

when did you go. was it over spring break

pants    7 years ago

You seems to be an experienced Carnival cruiser, so I don't have to tell you, these things happen, depending on when you cruise. I just hope it changes before we board this July. Thanks for the review.

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