Pandemic Cruising

Carnival Sunshine Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

KevinQuinn

Contributor Level: Second Mate

7 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 12

Helpful Votes: 275

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5

10 Night Eastern Caribbean Carnival Journeys (Charleston Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 17, 2022

Ship: Carnival Sunshine

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 8305

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

This review is for our booking on Carnival Cruise Line Voyage from Charleston SC on 17 January 2022 to 27 January 2022. My wife and I are both 65 years old. This is our 9th cruise (All on Carnival). After 2 years of the worldwide pandemic and 3 cancelled cruises we were ready to get on a ship and travel again. The beginning of this cruise was very stressful due to the CDC and Carnival rules for embarkation. A negative covid test was required up to 48 hours before sailing. This particular cruise (Due to being 10 days) Carnival was requiring a negative covid test at the port just prior to embarkation. We traveled by car from Virginia to Charleston. Due to a poor weather forecast we thought it best to leave 2 days early and stay in South Carolina. Our scheduled arrival time was 12:30 to 1:00 and we pulled into the parking lot at 12:15. We were directed to the luggage drop off where we declined due to the uncertainty of our luggage going on the cruise without us should either of us test positive. We were then placed in a wait line for testing. About 15 minutes later we were tested by friendly and efficient medical personnel and told to park and wait 15 to 20 minutes for results on the phone app. 40 minutes later both my wife and I received negative results. Great we are walking with our luggage to processing. They checked our test results and we entered screening. At screening they checked our test results again, our 2 day old covid test results, covid vaccination cards, boarding passes and identification papers. All good onto the transport bus to the terminal. We were informed that our state room was changed from 3102 to 6148 and that was a complementary upgrade. I asked if that was a handicap room like 3102 and assured it was. We said thank you and onto the ship we went. We were greeted with a big smiles and welcome aboard wishes. We then went to state room 6148 to find it was not an upgrade and not even a handicap. The 7” lip into the bathroom would be impossible for my wife so I headed off to guest services. 30 minutes in line at guest services and it was finally my turn. They told me they would work on a new room. 2 hours later and still no word back. During this time Manuel (Steward) tried to make our situation better. I telephoned guest services and they said they were still working on it. Another hour and I had to call back again. Finally I got help from Laura from Romania. She came up and helped us with our luggage to our new room 8305. This was an acceptable room as it was ADA. Sea Day #1 Showtime Studio VIP show was excellent! It was so good we went back for the late show and watched it again. Sea Day #2 Guest services called an apologized for the room situation from embarkation and offered us a complimentary dinner at Cucia Del Capitano. We accepted and it was a good dinner that included a bottle of wine. The service and atmosphere was outstanding but the food was less than we expected. We attended the comedy show (Paul Lyons was excellent). We also attended a cooking show with Chef Sydney D’enth. The show was fantastic with a four course sample lunch. Very impressive! Port Day: Tortola. A first time ever port for us.. It was extremely clean and safe for tourists. Everyone was very friendly. Port Day: St. Maarten: Another very nice port, first time, that was both safe and friendly. We had booked a Carnival excursion for the handicapped bus tour. It was informative and fun. We had Ed as a bus diver/guide and he was nothing short of perfect. Back on board we attended the comedy magic show by Mark Allen and that was another excellent time. Port Day: Antigua: First time port for us. We were able to get a passport stamp from their customs officer. We found the people to be very pushy and slightly rude if you did not buy from them. We did find one shop keep lady that was very accommodating and friendly. Each port my wife buys a post card and stamps to mail home. This lady sold us postage and would take the card to the post office and mail it for us the next day. Port Day: St. Thomas: This was our second time for St. Thomas and we stayed in the port area. Everyone was very friendly and we felt safe. We took up the Pirate Museum and had a wonderful time. They offered us a military discount (2 tickets $20, down from $32) and thanked me for my service as a Marine. The museum is excellent, especially the recovered items from the SS Republic in 1863. Port Day: Amber Cove: First time for us at this port and we had such a good time we will look for this as a stop on future bookings. The port area is beautiful and includes a fantastic lazy river style pool. There were plenty of beach chairs and ample opportunity to rent cabanas, boats, zip line, lockers and you name what. Back on the ship we attended the 50’s/60’s show that was fun, energetic and engaging. Sea Day #3: Throwback to 1987 theme with the Carnival Capers paper delivered under or door overnight. Oh my what a fantastic day we had. There was a ship building contest and frog races on the Lido deck. So much fun and we capped it off with Bud Anderson’s comedy at the Punchliner! Sea Day #4: A relaxing day for us with not much planned but we did attend the ventriloquist show of Phil Hughes. The military appreciation event was the 4th I have attended and I look forward to each cruise. I am so honored to be part of this event and my fellow veterans are amazing. I always get choked up during this tribute but would not miss it for anything else. Fun squad member Victoria added to the event with her story. Overall impression of this cruise: Started stress filled with the covid testing (Especially the 2nd test required for this cruise). I did not like the upgrade story at the port to find out that we would have 4 hours inconvenience time over the room change. If your going to have a change just be straight with us, we felt lied to. Getting back to cruising is wonderful. Carnival did a great job of finding us new ports when 2 of the ports cancelled. Since there were only 1500 passengers we had no wait time for anything. Beach chairs were abundant. It was a fantastic cruise and we look forward to the 4 more we already have booked. What Carnival did good: Just about everything. We felt very safe with the protocols and cleaning in place. Jake is an excellent cruise director. They kept us informed of changes as they happened. Sea Day brunch was excellent, as was the entertainment. The staff were very happy to see us back cruising. What Carnival did not so good: The food quality and selection was not as good as past cruises. Sometime the staff cut us off while walking around the ship (Pretty rude). Main dining room was not as good as the past (We only used it twice in 10 days). The Sunshine is a beautiful ship but is starting to show her age with minor maintenance issues. Pixels has become too expensive. Recommendation: Cruise with Carnival. They remain an excellent value committed to making your time with them memorable. I felt safer cruising than I do going to Walmart.