Fun time but left a lot to be desired

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

rkreszswick

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 35

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

5 Night Bahamas (Norfolk Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 09, 2017

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 1598

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

This was my 5th cruise, but my wife and 4yo sons first.

The ships was nice enough, but very disappointed with a few things.

- Food portions were all very small, unless you served yourself. At breakfast I was given 1 piece of bacon, and 2 potatoes. My wife asked for 3 personal pizzas at the outside pizza shop and was told "no only 2, get back in line for another"

- Lines for everything. Food, drinks, excursions, guest services, etc. Way too much of my vacation was spent waiting in a line.

- No customer service. Wandered around the dock in the heat waiting for someone to help us find where our beach excursion was leaving from with no Carnival staff anywhere around to help.

- The adults only area was very nice, but why do they have an area that's so much nicer then the rest of the outdoor areas on the ship? Padded lounge chairs, covered hammocks, enclosed private cabanas! Did they pay more then people with kids to use this?

- Food quality was dissapointing, buffet reminded me of the college cafeteria food. Main dining room was a little better, but shrimp in the shrimp cocktail were tiny, and my surf and truf that you had to pay extra for was good but the lobster tail was the size of a jumbo shrimp.

- Smoke filled cassino was right off main mez and kids had to walkthrough to easily get to other areas of the ship, my son called it the stinky area.

The good

- Drink prices not bad, bar staff friendly

- Burger shop was great!

- Ricardo who cleaned our room was excellent! Best service of the cruise.

Overall we made our own fun on the ship and are ready to go on another cruise but just not a Carnival.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Norfolk, Virginia

5 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

3 out of 5

9 Comments

OceanSky 7 years ago

As a mother of adult children, I am always amazed at how many parents will allow their 9 - 16 year old kids to run wild, unaccompanied by an adult until all hours of the morning. I'm not talking about the kids in the kids club, rather the ones who are just allowed free rein on the ship at 2:00 AM. You've got to wonder if they let there kids run loose at night when they're at home, too. My biggest concern isn't so much the mayhem these kids cause, it's the fact that bad things do happen on cruise ships, and you can never really know the backgrounds of all your fellow passengers or the crew members. And you also don't know what kind of peer pressure this kids might be subjected to when they gather in unsupervised groups. I know on past cruises I've seen girls who I'll bet were only 16 at most, sitting by the pool at midnight being served beer and mixed drinks by guys who looked to be in their mid twenties. I've also seen groups of adolescent boys throwing things into the pools and picking on younger kids. A cruise can be a wonderful family vacation. Just parents need to take the same precautions with their kids on the ship, that the do at home.

Thumbs Up 2

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clferr 7 years ago

Until something terrible happens and i dont really want to go into details, parents who have no control over their kids or don't really care about them this will continue. I have seen listed in the daily outings for kids starting at 10pm. And these were for kids under 15 or so. Parents have to realize that just because they are vacation it shouldn't mean that you allow kids to run wild.

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TNAgent7 7 years ago

Kids. Correction: Kids with irresponsible parents. AND a cruise line that was looking at $ signs and looked the other way. We were in a Carnival cruise with 1600 16 and under. Those words came straight out of the CD's mouth. They RAN that ship. They ran up and down hallways during the night yelling and knocking on doors. Pushing all the buttons on elevators. Every morning people went out to loungers piled in the pools. I personally saw little girls from our balcony (maybe 11) walking the decks in groups of two or three at 1am. Older teens sitting in circles passing a "cigarette" even later in the morning. Their loud voices below our balcony were hard to miss. Called security once, but no one came. Parents bringing children of any age on board need to realize the ships aren't playpens where you can leave them on their own. Make your kids behave. We realize you too paid, but when others have to endure your lack of responsibility, WE pay the higher price.

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catwoman7667 7 years ago

i was in a spa suite on sunshine n i couldnt get a sit chair anything in the serenity deck. mean they advised as part of the spa package. anyone especially the chair hoggers go up there. kids should not be allowed in hot tubs at all either.

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alanathep 7 years ago

So many bad Sunshine reviews can't be wrong.... I was on it too and it sucked. Loved other Carnival ships. Just not the Sunshine.

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sunshinel9ver 7 years ago

rkres. Get a life!!!!Going through life with a negative attitude like yours is a bummer. You can get as much food as you want!!!!! Carnival staff is great!! Treat them with respect and you will get respect in return!!!!!!!!

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Ssue450 7 years ago

Ungh that happened to us I almost got knocked down from teens running down the hallway. Teens like that should be supervised. I'm not saying I'm parent of the year but my kids would have never acted like that !!!

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OceanSky 7 years ago

At a guess, the reason the Serenity Deck area is so much nicer than the other public areas IS because kids are not allowed there so you don't have as much food spilled there, chairs jumped on, and equipment misused. I'm not saying that EVERY kid who gets on board is a problem, but it's been my experience (after 11 cruises!) that for every polite, well behaved child you will find on board, you will find 3 kids whose parents are no where in sight and those kids are yelling and screaming and leaving trash everywhere as the climb on everything in sight like it's all monkey bars. I personally love seeing a family on the ship having a great time together. What I HATE is looking outside my cabin door at 2:00 AM to see if someone has been injured and seeing a couple of unaccompanied preteens racing up and down the hallway, yelling at the top of their lungs and pulling the "Snoozing" signs off the doors.

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clferr 7 years ago

No extra charge for Serenity area. Im sure towards the end of the cruise the bacon was self serve. You have to realize that there are people who take way too much food that just ends up in the trash. There used to be trays to use in the buffet but they have done away with them im sure due to people piling up and not eating.

Thumbs Up 5

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