Our First Carnival Cruise

Item: Carnival Sunshine
Rating: 4.7
Author: jleheste

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

jleheste

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 20

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

Verified Review

8 Night Eastern Caribbean (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 26, 2017

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 10141

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Perfect tour with 3 stops. Excellent accomodations on board for adults and kids. We spent a lot of time in the 'fun' area playing minigolf, climbing e.t.c. Which is perfect for a trip with children. Other cruiselines dont have that. The food and other accomodations were spectacular throughout. I really liked having a set dnner arrangement. Other Cruiselines do 'freestyle' which I am not a fan of brcause of the added stress. I can absolutely recommend this tour and would do something similar with Carnival anytime!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The best I have ever experienced

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

A bit on the small side for 4 people but absolutely functional and with some additional organization throughout the trip not a problem at all. We travelled with 2 teenage kids and it was nice to talk to them before falling asleep. Brought us closer together as a family.

Ship tip

Food and dring on the Sunshine are spectacular. The kids loved the soda pass, which is very reasonable priced, but things could have been done without by just getting the freely avalable bevarages on the Lido deck (9) throughout the day. Tip: the lemonade is so sweet that it might help to cut it by at least 50% with water or ice tea which is unsweetened. We bought a medium and fast internet package. They are both super slow and dont expect to be skyping or posting a whole lot on facebook. If I could do it again, I would get only one to stay connected. Only one device can be connected at ta time but you can switch. Forced me to stay off my phone which was actually a blessing. Buy the bottled water through Carnival beforehenad. It is a good deal and will safe you expenses down the road. You cannot bring water onto the ship. They wil confiscate all bottled drinks as you get on.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New York, New York Did not visit port

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

Excellent for snorkeling. I would highly recommend to book the excursion on Trip Advisor ( I went through the Marriott Rewards system). Exclusive Escapes is who I booked with on Grand Turk: Best excursion I have ever been on:I booked this because of the varietiy of activities included and the raving reviews and was not disappointed. Exclusive Escape Tours is a small company specialized in unusual trips for small group sizes. We had ample time at the two snorkeling stops to marvel the colorful fishes unlike several other tours which came by and left long before we moved on. Our snorkeling guide, Gary, was very knowlegeable and demonstrated things that I did not believe were possible. Captain Eric then took us to our third site where we actually got to dive and collect our own conch shell which he expertly made into a 'farm fresh' conch salad that we enjoyed together with a cup of rum punch at a secluded beach where we encountered wild sting rays. These are wild animals that Gary expertly luers to the site with some bait and controls for a unique experience and photo opportunity. All my expertations where by far exceeded!!! One has to realize that all of the other tours that can be booked through the cruise lines hand 50% of the money right to the cruise line leaving the rest to furnish your tour. With tours like this one, 100% is used to create your experience. I would always do this again! If you decide to book through Carnival you should realize that they take 50% from the tour vendor which leaves only half of money for your tour itself. That is different when you book through trip advisor. This tour as called: Exclusive Supreme Snorkling BE CAREFUL TO CHECK THAT THE TOURS ARE WITHIN THE TIMEFRAME YOU WILL BE IN PORT. Most of the m naturaly do, and I did not check beforehand, but I guess it could happen. -especially if there are other ships in port at the same time.

Thumbs Up 10

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

5 out of 5

Beautiful swimming in crystal clear waters. Bring enough water

Thumbs Up 9

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5

We did a nice historical walking tour tour. Again, not biooked through Carnival and very happy with it. This tour was called Expolre Nassau. The guide was very knowlegeable and went out of his way for us. Our family of 4 were his only tour guests! Again, individualized smal tours you will only get if you book through Trip Advisor, Marriott Rewards or similar sites.

Thumbs Up 3