We've had better Carnival cruises...

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York

eric677251

Contributor Level: Cruise Director

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 183

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

5 Night Canada/New England (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 28, 2017

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 11003

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

My wife and I discussed this cruise quite a bit both during and the cruise and after it was over. We have been on five Carnival cruises now and we think this was our least favorite Carnival cruise. Perhaps that is a bit unfair, but that is just how we feel. Unfair in that, even though it was our least favorite, it does not mean it was a bad cruise. It probably does not help that our previous cruise to this one was a Haven suite on NCL and NCL, for us, has the best dining of any of any cruise line that we have been on. Plus, the NCL ship we were on was a newer ship with a large one bedroom, two bathroom, cabin. The port stops were good. The crew was great (especially a bartender who made me a Blue's Blue Frozen Margarita when he was already closing down the bar), but the dining left a lot to be desired unless we were paying extra for it (or it was a Guy's hamburger!) and the Internet access was terrible. We were on the Carnival Dream this time last year and that was one of our favorite cruises ever. This cruise though, on the Sunshine, everything just fell a little flat. We will definitely cruise with Carnival again, but probably would not cruise on the Sunshine again.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Faster to the Fun for the win!! We've been using Faster to the Fun for our last three Carnival cruises and it makes a huge difference. We got to the cruise terminal in NY at 11:30AM and the line for checking in was insane. With Faster to the Fun we walked right up. I think there were two people ahead of us. I understand all the complaints now that I have seen with other people boarding Carnival Sunshine in NY. I could easily see the process taking a couple of hours if one had to wait in that line. If Faster to the Fun is available, book it! I know they raised the price a bit, but it is a small amount compared to what one spends on the cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

I hate giving a two star review for the entire ship's dining, but we did have issues with the dining. Having been on a number of Carnival cruises, and other cruises too, this was the weak link for our cruise. The specialty steak house, Italian restaurant, and Guy's Burgers were five-star awesome; no issues there. Honestly, Guy's Burgers are the best hamburgers on the ocean. RCCL has Johnny Rockets, and you pay extra to eat at Johnny Rockets, and they are not as good as Guy's Burgers and Guy's Burgers are included in the price of your cruise. Lido (Marketplace) dining was bland (as was the two times we ate in main dining). Service was good in main dining, but there was just something missing with the food. Also, we had a six year old with us and he was drinking milk (cartons). The milk was awful. The white milk tasted off and the one time we ordered it with room service it was actually spoiled. I tasted it and spit it out. See the photo of the chocolate milk I attached. That was poured right from the cartoon into the glass. It looks watered down (thinner than even skim milk). Pancakes at breakfast weren't hot and they were rubbery. The standard fare dining left a lot to be desired.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

My son loved the water slides and miniature golf course and I enjoyed going to the gym twice. The pool, as many have said, is tiny and constantly crowded. We did not even attempt it. The staff at the Spa was professional and very helpful.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Not rating the shows since we did not bother on this cruise, but there was a distinct lack of entertainment around the ship compared to other Carnival cruises. We did see a performer here and there, but not like on previous cruises.

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Our son went to the kid's club twice for a couple of hours each time. The staff was great and he had a good time.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

All the staff were great, but if I heard the cruise director refer to all of us as "lovelies" one more time I was going to lose my mind. I get it, she's British, fine... but, that got old.. fast. After the first day. Deducting one star for hearing "lovelies" 10 times a day. Even our six year old found it annoying. lol

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

For an older ship, the Sunshine was in decent condition. Definitely showing its age in some areas, but no major complaints. I am glad it had been updated with some of the newer items (like Guy's Burgers!).

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The room wasn't bad. We typically get balcony rooms, but opted to go cheap on this cruise because we got a good deal on a Serenity cabin on deck 11. The cabin was okay. We liked it because it had the bed that comes down from the ceiling for our six year old and he likes that (like having just an upper bunk bed). Much better than an inside cabin where they have to bring in a cot. That wasn't going to work with such a small cabin. The room fit our minimal needs and was quiet. Being forward and a high deck I thought there was a chance we would have a lot of sound and/or movement. That wasn't the case. Even on a night where we were told we were moving into an area of low pressure and 12 foot swells, I had no issues. Because we had the Serenity deck the shampoo, shower gel, and conditioner were much higher end products (my wife clearly noticed).

Ship tip

The Internet package on this ship was a joke. The price was good, but the service was not. We paid for the premium package and it was spotty at best and incredibly slow when it worked. If that was the premium package, the standard package must be AOL dial-up or something. I am not sure how it could be any slower (except for not working and there were plenty of times I was connected but it was not working).

Thumbs up

Ports of call

New York, New York

5 out of 5

Love NY. We have friends and family there and have been there many times. Did all the touristy stuff (again). Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, etc. Such a great city. For an excursion though... book Faster to the Fun! Best value excursion available! Worth every penny.

Thumbs Up 2

Saint John, New Brunswick

4 out of 5

No excursions. Just walked around the city a bit. Learned of the fire that destroyed much of the city many years ago. Had to go to Tim Hortons while in Canada, right? ;)

Thumbs Up 5

Halifax, Nova Scotia

5 out of 5

Did the hop on/hop off Grayline tour excursion and learned a lot about Halifax. The explosion 100 years ago that destroyed most of the city and over 2,000 people, visited the graves of over 100 victims of the Titanic and how White Star Lines had offices in Nova Scotia. The tour guides for Grayline were great. Learned a lot I did not know about Halifax. Such beautiful weather while we were there too.

Thumbs Up 8

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

We did carry off with our luggage and because we paid for Faster to the Fun we got off the ship quick. We were the first group off of the ship at around 7:40AM. If you can carry off your bags, do it. You will save a lot of time. Quicker you get to customs, the shorter the wait.

Traveler Photos

Titanic Tombstones Arranged Like a Ship's Bow

24 Comments

willwork4cruz 7 years ago

Fair enough. If you rank things, one has to be on the bottom. As you said, it doesn't mean the bottom is bad, there are just better. my goal is to take so many cruises I couldn't possibly rank them all.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

eric677251 7 years ago

Honestly, I liked the Carnival Sunshine more than Anthem of the Seas. My wife and I spent a few days on Anthem of the Seas and we did not like it at all. Big ship; poor service. I do not feel that my problems with Carnival Sunshine are major; I am certainly not bashing the ship. All I am saying is that it is the least favorite of the five Carnival cruises that I have taken. I have been on a different Carnival ship each time and Sunshine ended up being my least favorite of the five. I think I had some valid reasons for ranking this cruise where I did. My minor issues with this cruise will not prevent me from cruising with Carnival again.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

RonitaN 7 years ago

levine, any cruise is better than no cruise....i have only cruised on Carnival ships and I said it was my least favorite ship... Not that I hated it, or anything quite that extreme....it's all in what you make it, I hope you enjoy it!

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

RAYnLUCY 7 years ago

In addition, the Carnival Sunshine ship has a waterfall feature in the adults-only serenity deck. That's an excellent place to chill-out with your cocktail without little ones running all around you. Then like the bigger class ships, the Sunshine features some of the same outdoor activities on there sports deck like the rope-walk and the water slides and basketball court but once again you're not paying the price tag as you would on the bigger class ships. Certainly if your budget allows for it then by all means cruise the bigger ships preferably Royals Oasis class or NCL's Escape or Disney. Carnival's Sunshine maybe the nicest caliber of ship of its size (under 1000 ft), in my opinion!

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

RAYnLUCY 7 years ago

My opinion of the Sunshine ship is that it's a great ship without the Dream Class or Vista Class price 💰! It's actually a mini-Vista in my opinion because it features a Latin experience like no other Carnival ship other than the Vista! I'm not a Latino but I would say it's an awesome touch because quite naturally you may think of Latin America while sailing in Caribbean waters. Carnival decorated a portion of the Sunshine ship that way. In fact, that's an excellent place to have your embarkation lunch and breakfast the very next day to avoid the crowd because that Havana area is tucked away so well that most people do not know it's there until much later on!

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

sorca2 7 years ago

haven to Carnival.. that explains

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

levine 7 years ago

don't make me feel bad. I am cruising the sunshine. I hope I like it better than you

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

RonitaN 7 years ago

Eric677251..... Our 16 and 14 year olds are the same.... If we didn't give them set times to check in, we would never see them! At least our 8 year old isn't too cool to hang with us yet, lol.... In between kids club anyway! I think our family's would cruise well together!

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

RonitaN 7 years ago

will_work_4_cruise.... The food on the Sunshine I would say is exactly the same as all the other Carnival ships.... I think the selection on the Buffet may have been smaller but I could be wrong....i did really enjoy the stir fry place, that was a new thing for us...i had that at least once a day.... Reminded me very much of the heat in the food I ate while I was stationed in Korea, enjoyed introducing my husband to that food! We only ate in the MDR twice.... Not because of the food or our server.... He tried to get things to us, but the kitchen was very slow.... We had late dining and we missed all the shows those two nights. I really hesitate to say anything bad, but I would be remiss if I didn't.... If you eat from the deli, do so the first half of the cruise... My husband loves the Reuben sandwiches... He had a couple at the beginning of the cruise... On our last day at sea as we were in line he remarked how not many people must not have ordered the corned beef as they lifted the table cloth they had it covered with to slice for his sandwich.... Who knows how long it had been sitting out? About 6 hours later that evening he was so sick....food poisoning.... It lasted until after we were off the boat the next morning...of all our cruises that is the ONLY negative thing about food I have to say.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

eric677251 7 years ago

RonitaN, our 14 year old daughter, who has been cruising since she was six or seven, is all about the sea days. The moment she gets into the cabin she grabs the listing of events going on and plans her day. The last couple of cruises she has found a friend of similar age and we have allowed her the freedom to go off on her own (within reason). She definitely gets the most out of all the events going on with the ship. We only see her at dinner when there is lobster or escargot on the menu. Our six year old boy would be happy spending all day on the water slides. That is about the only thing that is important to him.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

RonitaN 7 years ago

My review of all the ships have nothing to do the cabins unless there is something REALLY wrong with them....i don't factor those in because those are all a personal choice and vary ship to ship, line to line.....i find it funny that my husband is all about destination and excursions while my daughters and l are all about the ship and sea days....we don't care where we are going, we find getting off the ship a pain in the rear, lol

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

eric677251 7 years ago

Fair comments one and all. We have cruised on Carnival four times before this cruise and had enjoyed all of them. As I said in my review, the Carnival Dream (where we had our typical balcony cabin) was one of our favorite cruise experiences over all of the cruises that we have taken. Even after going on an NCL cruise after the Carnival Dream, I still look back on the Carnival Dream cruise as one of my favorite cruises. Like I said in my review, things just were not the same for us on the cruise. The issues with the food (and the bad milk) were a little hard to overcome, ship Internet being nearly unusable. wallpaper peeling off the cabin walls, tiny pool, etc. The crew was great though. I had read another review about the Sunshine where someone said something like,"The crew does give it their all, but there is only so much they can do." I try to be honest and fair in my reviews. Not condemning the ship for those who like it. We are lucky as cruises to have so many cruise lines and cruise ships to choose from.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

travelbyshonda 7 years ago

Well shucks I would expect everything to be night and day. I haven't cruised the Sunshine but yeah that would make you compare. Last year was our first suite on Carnival and now we are hooked. It's a personal preference you want the Bells and Whistles money talks.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

afamnheidi 7 years ago

$2499/pp for a 7 day cruise on the Escape was the first thing that popped up when I went to NCLs website

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

travelbyshonda 7 years ago

I'm asking what is starting prices of NCL's Haven suites? Pricing is my point.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

afamnheidi 7 years ago

Carnival had nothing close to NCL's Haven suites to compare prices to.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

travelbyshonda 7 years ago

I'm curious to know the price difference between Carnival and NCL?

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

willwork4cruz 7 years ago

I think you're right it's not fair if you compare a suite guest only upscale private restaurant with the main dining room on another ship that costs a fraction of the price. How did the Sunshine's dining compare to other Carnival MDR food?

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

eric677251 7 years ago

@RonitaN, we cruised on RCCL a number of times before cruising Carnival. Definitely more value on Carnival than RCCL. We looked at two cruises out of Galveston a couple of years going on the exact same itinerary, Carnival and RCCL. RCCL was leaving one day earlier. Very similar ships. It was almost $1,000 less to go on Carnival than RCCL. We have a family of four and we find vacationing a challenge sometimes. No clue how I you do it with eight (the costs and the logistics both). Kudos to you! :)

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

stardancer 7 years ago

I have to agree. We did not enjoying the Sunshine like we have so many others. Any cruise is a good cruise but some are just better. We also enjoy NFL better.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

RonitaN 7 years ago

Maybe one day when we get all the kids raised we will be able to afford to switch cruise lines, lol.... With 6 kids we have always vacationed on a budget and a cruise is the most bang for your buck! The 3 boys are grown and gone, now it's the 3 girls.... 16, 14 & 8 so we will be on Carnival for a while longer

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

eric677251 7 years ago

@RonitaN, in very simple terms, your comment of "odd and lacking" sums it up pretty well. :)

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

afamnheidi 7 years ago

the Haven spoils you for life. 24/7 butler service, hot breakfast delivered tip your balcony in the mornings, private restaurant and bar, reserved seating at shows. cruises will never be the same for us.

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

RonitaN 7 years ago

My husband and I absolutely agree with you....we have cruised 5 times, all with Carnival, and the Sunshine just fell short....we will stay with Carnival but will definitely not Sail on the Sunshine again....i will not go into a long rant here as l have given my review already, but it seems to be a common thing on here.... From all my reading it seems The Sunshine is either love it or hate it, no lukewarm feelings at all..... It was just odd and lacking to us.... Nothing like any of the other ships we had been on previously.... And we have sailed all sizes, old and new.... That said, we are not letting that deter us from going on our yearly Carnival cruise! You win some, you lose some! 37 more days and we are on the Elation!

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Not the best vacation

First cruise

Ups n downs