Disappointed, overcrowded, not typical Carnival

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 44

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Sunshine

8 Night Southern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 06, 2017

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 5349

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

This was our 8th Carnival Cruise and I've had great experiences with all of their other ships. Unfortunately, it seems with the Sunshine  they remodeled an older/smaller ship, added state rooms and took away entertainment space, and ended up with a pretty ship that so crowded with long lines, little seating in popular venues such as the liquid lounge (main show venue), pool area on lido and deck 10, and the comedy club was standing room only for 4 of the 5 shows I attended and we were even turned away from another comedy show after standing in line for 30 minutes. Dining took approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes each night. State room steward only offered to make up room one time per day at our choosing morning or evening  and did not respond to any of my four attempts to call him to report a broken door hinge and not working refrigerator. Overall, the cruise was a disappointment  and not even comparable with other Carnival cruises we have taken .

 

Positive: The boat looked pretty, Emma the cruise director was very charming,  The quality of the shows was great (if you could find a seat), and food was comparable with other cruises.  If you don't mind going to shows 30 minutes early, dining for nearly 2 hours, making up your own state room, and  going out on deck  at 7 AM  and this is the cruise for you :-) this is the cruise for you :) 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Food good, service very slow with dry drinks and plenty of waiting

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5
Quality of entertainment was good, venues were way too small for that many people on the ship

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
Broken door hinge, bolt came out of bathroom door handle, warm fridge, and no table ( though my parents room right next to us had one). Also, apparently passed guests were supposed to receive a drink coupon but ours never arrived.

Ship tip

Choose a newer/larger ship please; carnival dripped the ball with the sunshine.

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5

Bonaire, Netherlands Special Municipality

5 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 44

4 Comments

Deniseg    7 years ago

I've been hearing about this early or late state room cleaning. I never had to choose yet and we cruise every year. Going next week so I'll see if I have to then.

sunshinel9ver    7 years ago

YOU HAVE NO PAST CRUISES LISTED.!👎

sunshinel9ver    7 years ago

Hard to believe all of this review. If you have been on 8 Carnival cruises or any other line you would know to get to shows early. Have been on 15 Carnival cruises and there is no better staff ANYWHERE. You get an option of early, late or both for cabin cleaning. So hard to believe you are a seasoned cruiser....!!!!!

kmkerr8    7 years ago

I thought it was now standard that your room was only made up once a day, unless you requested twice. Once a day was always fine with me.

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