Great except engine failure at 4 am on last morning and adrift with no power at sea for 2 hours

Item: Carnival Sunshine
Rating: 4.1
Author: 7978jdw

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

7978jdw

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 29

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5

5 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 13, 2018

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 6339

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

At 4am on our way into port Canaveral I was awakened while wearing my cpap mask to no electricity and not being able to breathe. We were without power for around 2 hours, the cruise director finally came on after an hour of waiting in the dark with alarms blaring and the smell of smoke to say they were trying to find the problem. Then everyone was sent to level 5 for debarkation to wait because we got into port late. At around 10 am we were told we could debark and they were rushing debarkation at that point. We had to drag our luggage down the steps because there were so many people trying to get off the ship. Upon leaving the port, a port employee authority told us the sunshine had lost its 2 main motors over a month ago and been running on its backup motors. And something had happened to the back up motors is why we were adrift for 2 hours This was terrifying and unacceptable situation. And 2 days later I still cannot sleep and shaken from this. We were scheduled to go on another cruise in July 2019, but after finding out about being put out to sea with unsafe engine failure, we are thinking about looking into another cruise line.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Lines too long at buffet. Not enough selections

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Carpet stained and dirty. Trim molding rotten. Outside walls rusty. Outside vent covers filthy

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Ask if they have the 2 main motors fixed. We were adrift for 2 hours with engine failure

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

4 out of 5

Staged but port nice. No culture

Thumbs Up 3

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5

Feel like port was staged also. Beach was nice

Thumbs Up 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

15 Comments

sudslala 6 years ago

Things break and get worn just like anything, your car, Etc. to replace them probably wouldn’t have meant dry dock and her not sailing. That’s why they have backup motors on board. Shaken. Funniest thing I’ve heard all week

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sudslala 6 years ago

Shaken!!??? Lmao! That’s great!

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vjallo 6 years ago

I was on this cruise as well. Power was off maybe 30 minutes. The part that made me mad was that the alarm went off for 30 minutes with no word as to what was going on. We waited 2 hours to get off the ship. Have never had to wait that long. Overall the cruise was just OK. I will go back to doing RCL

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Acorder13 6 years ago

PS....ALL and I mean ALL cruise lines have similar events. I have friends who strictly cruise RC and they have had similar and sometimes worse events happen.

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Acorder13 6 years ago

We were on the same ship. The electricity went off about 5 AM for 20 mins. It came back on then off for another 10. We were still when that happened, but quickly got moving again. The debarkation plan stated that deck 5 was where to wait for debarkation. We were off the ship the same time as always (10+ cruises). The issue couldnt have been too severe. She sailed out at 4:23 that afternoon. Cannot wait.for the Vista in October!

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angelamay 6 years ago

Power was only out thirty minutes.

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MegMc 6 years ago

We were on the cruise with you. We didn’t arrive to port late and we were off the ship in no time. I’m sorry about your CPAP machine the ship should have back up generators. I’m wondering what floor your cabin was on because I was awake and never heard any alarms.

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mstatini62 6 years ago

Wow when I was on the Sunshine last year I didn't have any problems at all

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okhappy493 6 years ago

Still waiting for this to hit the news and waiting and waiting?

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simond101 6 years ago

I just called Carnival Cruise Lines and they said there's no such problems as far as Motors, engines.

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Erickson4 6 years ago

When did this happen? We are leaving in 6 days on the Sunshine.

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mystang 6 years ago

Having no power especially with a medical condition (cpap) is very dangerous, potentially deadly. Carnival should have spent the money to fix the motor. I'm glad your ok, and sorry for your experience. The ship should be docked until fixed!

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onlysail 6 years ago

Sh/t happens even on a cruise

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bonvoyagegurl 6 years ago

Wow!

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Cruisergirl220 6 years ago

We have cruised with Carnival for years and it’s sad to hear these stories on how they seem to neglect important issues with their cruises. Hopefully your next cruise will be more enjoyable!

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