Disappointing and disgusting. A sad way to spend a vacation. Better option is to stay home and visit local attractions unless you can get to a real port and a real cruise line.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Takes long time to get parked.....long walk to check in building......cramped and uncomfortable bus ride to ship. All in all a bad experience. Once on board the life boat drill was almost an hour long, standing on deck, packed in 4 deep -old/young/babies - with no communication for 40 minutes....just standing in a crowd. A very bad experience and makes you wonder how this inept organization can work in a real emergency.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Dining rooms over crowded. Gluten free menu orders not correct 50% of the time. Basically went without dinner as they could not provided pre ordered gluten free items. Buffet set up worked by separating drinks and various food stations. Overly crowded as was the entire ship.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Unable to take advantage of activities due to excessive crowds pushing and crammed into limited space. More of a cattle car than a cruise.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Overall a few bright spots but mostly on the light side of talent.
Children's Programs
3 out of 5
Good but again crowded. The staff worked well with the kids but over crowded to be an effective program.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
All staff worked hard to provide support however very few of the staff had any knowledge of the ship, activities or locations. Clearly a lack of training.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Ship had peeling paint, missing chunks of paint of railings and plenty of rust when taking a close look. Surprised they haven’t received fines from authorities. In hindsight it was very disgusting and disturbing.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Adequate...other than the rust in the shower ceiling.
Ship tip
Cancel and find another cruise line. This ship is overbooked and other than being more convenient than other ports there is no reason to waste your vacation time on a cattle car.
Whoever is in charge of this process should be terminated or moved to deck cleaning. This process was as inept as the life boat drill. A joke - what little communication came from the cruise director (btw all he did was attempt to up sell tours) was wrong. The process took several hours with little direction — very very bad experience. Best advice...don’t ever embark on this ship so you don’t have to disembark!
Looks like you have never cruised before according to your profile. Seems like being on a ship with over 3,000 people is not for you. We were on the Sunshine last month and loved it. Was nicer than the Ecstacy my husband and I both thought. Had a great time on every carnival cruise we have been on. Muster drill usually lasts about 15 mins if everyone shows up on time at the right station.
Hmmm, we just sailed on the Sunshine in October and had a completely different experience. The ship is older and probably needs a few updates but rust is a fact of life when a steel ship sits in salt water ALL THE TIME. The lifeboat drill took forever because your fellow passengers were not doing what they were told. No ship can conclude a drill until all of the passengers have checked in. The ONLY part of this review that I agree with is that the Port of Charleston is horrible. We’ve been on 19 cruises and Charleston is by far, the most disorganized embarkation port there is. We found all of our meals to be delicious and were never unsatisfied with any of the service we received. Please stay home or pay an ungodly amount of money to hug a person dressed as a big mouse and stay off cruise ships!!!
We cruised in December I actually love the setup of the ship and wish carnival had more of this class. The crew seemed to be understaffed and did not try and engage in simple conversation such as good morning. That said kudos go out to our cabin Stewart and to the head bartender at the alchemy bar.
Sounds like cruising is not for you. Complain about everything. A cruise is what you make it to be. Maybe you should look at other vacation options. But then again, you will probably complain about that too.
It appears you have never cruised before!! As suggested, maybe cruising is not your cup of tea. We have cruised on several other cruise lines and experienced some of the issues you are complaining about as well.
Been on the Sunshine 3 times have cruised with only Carnival at least 16 times. Love the Sunshine apparently cruising is not for you. Take a $5000 vaca to a shitty beach.
Definitely sounds like cruising isn’t for you. You cruised during one of the busiest times of year, so crowds should be expected. Many of your complaints are issues everyone has to deal with when cruising - standing in line, muster drill, etc. As far as debarkation, it’s always best to take your own luggage off. You will be in one of the first groups off the ship, not have to search for your luggage and generally have a shorter line to get through customs
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