Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We fully enjoyed our cruise. The variety of dance venues along with the live music was the best we have experience on a Carnival cruise.

The spa staff was extremely professional and skilled. Hanna and Gina were our massage therapist for our three couple massages.

Our wait staff, Hilario, Terry, and Boris, at table 554 in the 8:15  dining took great care of us at every meal. they were very attentive with being overly so. They anticipated our needs and were extremely friendly.

I would not go back on the Sunshine. The dining experience was horrible. The food was of poor taste. The employees was overworked. The ship decor was disappointing compared to prior sailing.  While on the ship, I heard a lot of similar complaints from other guest.

Far too many young children. We could never get into any of 3 hot tubs due to the kids using them as swimming pools ALL DAY LONG!

Spent far too much time waiting for elevators due to having a state room on level 11. Note: only 2 of the 16 elevators go above 10th floor.

I thought the overall experience was well planned as far as getting on and off the ship.  I would have liked to spend more time in San Juan and cut out one of the other ports.  I would also have liked to have more information about the ports from Carnival instead of the sales pitch for buying more stuff at preferred shops.  (An example in St. Thomas); after going into town and seeing a post card of a tram that goes up a mountain - I finally discovered on my own that the tram was near the ship dock.  We were never informed of anything to do in port other than the Carnival  tours.  The food onboard was good and the shows were enjoyable.  A big problem for me was having to check-in for dinner on a floor different from where I was eating.  I think that practice needs to be reviewed.  The coffee onboard it terrible!!!

First off I will say that overall I enjoyed myself but that was despite many frustrating events.  The check-in was by far one of the most efficient that I have ever experienced over several cruises that I have had.  When I booked my cruise I signed up for the membership program, which included a $50 on-board credit.  As soon as I got on the ship I went to check my account and there was only a $20.86 credit.  When I questioned customer service about it they were of no help what so ever.  They kept telling me if I had a number they could call for me even though the credit came through Carnival themselves.  In an attempt to not ruin my vacation I just accepted the fact I was not going to get the credit and moved on.  There were very few activities on board the ship.  I've been on other ships and there were so many activities on sea days and port days that I couldn't do all that I wanted.  On this trip there really wasn't much in the way of activities or entertainment.  I have cruised with Carnival several times and have always enjoyed the food/service.  This time I found the food to be nearly intolerable even in the dining rooms.  I don't know if this was because of the chef on board or if it's a trend now due to the specialty restaurants.  I signed up for the your time dining which was very misleading.  Basically I got a beeper and had to wait up to 45 minutes several nights to get a table.  The service overall was incredibly poor and slow all around.  I was very disappointed.  I spoke with several different people over dinner that had the same experience.  Some even mentioned having the gratuities removed from their bill  It will be a while before I take another cruise for a vacation. 

Can't fault the cruise line at all.  Had one small, bad experience with one member of staff, but nothing major.  The rest of the staff were amazing, the room was large, clean and comfortable and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Everything was great. shows, food and service.  I have been on 13 cruises and

this was a lot of fun and we enjoyed ourselves.  The ship kept us very busy and we like that.

The service was not what I have experienced  in the past on 'Carnival "  Dining room used only "1" time. Food was not up to usual standards. Prime Rib was 1/2 fat. Waiter never came back after taking our order. We used the Marketplace buffet the rest of week. We did not realize no room service menu till last night of cruise, all restaurants were CLOSED. Smoking area was a joke, only enough room for about 20 people. there was at least 50 at times.

This was a great cruise except for the weather.  The staff was wonderful especially our dinning room wait staff, the room crew, the art auction personnel and the shopping expert.  These people went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. 

I have traveled with Carnival quite a few times...and have to say , as good as usual! except for couple things....found a few rude people in the Gift shops....not all of them...specifically where they sell the custom jewelry, he was rude and very short with us, and acted annoyed...(the gift shop where they sell the T-shirts the girl was fantastic!!), lack of employees in the buffet area....tables were not been cleaned as quick as in the past....but overall, a very good experience.....the shows were the BEST!!....dining room and cabin experience was fantastic.  Disembarkation was  very organized this time...probably one of the best I have experienced......Keep up the good work!!

After 45 cruises, I would have to rate this cruise as number 45. Service was under par-during meal time and cabbie service as we'll.  The menu at the late night buffet was the same all 8 nights.  Guys burgers were GREAT.  The other meals were just so-so. Could not recommend this cruise to friends.

The cruise was very relaxing and had great ports.  I didn't care for the layout of the ship; it didn't flow well.  I did not like the Anytime Dining layout.  You had to check in on Deck 5 and then go to Deck 3 but I understand why they have to do it since Deck 3 could not accommodate a line of people.  The spa was lacking a whirlpool and one of the 3 steam rooms was not working.  We had a balcony mid-ship.  The room seemed smaller than the one on the Breeze.  It did not have side tables by the bed and there is no fridge.  Now for the good...the food in the main dining room was good.  We had a great waiter for a couple of nights.  His name was Andrew and he was the best waiter we have had on any Carnival ships.  We also ate at the Steakhouse, JiJi's and the Capitano's.  We loved JiJi's and Capitano's.  The Steakhouse was ok but not as good as the other two.  On the Lido deck, we enjoyed the Wok, Guys Burgers, Deli, Pizza and Burrito place.  I normally don't get anything from the buffet line because I prefer the other options. For Entertainment, we enjoyed the comedy shows and Epic Rock.  Epic Rock was ok.  The guitarist was very good, but the main show was ok. Jamie Dee was the best cruise director.  IMO, she is the best one out there for Carnival.  The Serenity area is very nice but very crowded.  Overall, it was a great cruise!.  Glad we tried it once, but we will not sail the Sunshine again.

This was not one of my favorite Carnival ships. The expansion of the old Destiny didn't include the common spaces. The ship is very narrow to navigate. Lots of bumping and getting out of my way. The food on the buffet was the same every. The noise level in certain area's exceeded my tolerance. On a positive note, the service on the Sunshine was the usual superb service we know from other Carnival Cruises. 

seaday brunch was very bad.. no napkins.. no bread.. cold soup.. slow service.. a lot of people not happy, they should have had more karaoke. what thay had a lot of people showed up for. most all carnival ships have way more then this ship had..and it does not cost a lot to put this on.

We liked the cruise. Our balcony room was very nice and well taken care of. For some crazy reason, nearby people would slam their door going to the balcony at all hours of the day and night. Plus there was lots of hallway talking going on all night. Very disturbing.

The cafeteria food was OK at best, but the hamburger shop and sandwich shop was excellent. We watched a movie out on the pool deck one night which was vey enjoyable. The comedian club offered excellent entertainment. Some of the local bars offered very good entertainment.

The excursions were good. You get what you pay for. You need to realize that you are in very depressed economic areas and you will see and be subjected to lots of panhandlers.

We really enjoyed the zip lining in Mahogany Bay and the Mayan ruins tour in Costa Maya. Waiting for the bus connection back to the ship from zip lining was very long and uncalled for.

Was excellent the experience , I was at the Destiny before and the changes are great and the staff to.

Also I like the new concept for the Havana the restaurant and the club at night time with the Latin Music.

Great changes. 

state room had leaks, late or no room service at all, food not too good, not a lot of variety ports were pretty good, way too much time in costa maya, way too little time at ruins

The staff were great, i booked me and mom on a spa balcony. It was her first cruise and my first 7night and big ship. The stops were amazing. the shore excursions we booked with shoreexcursionsgroup.com. Which we are glad because the captain didn't know we would make it in Nassau so they canceled all the excursions book with carnival but our sail and snorkel exc.. was not cancel due to it was booked with another company. I enjoyed the Fahrenheit555 steakhouse that was so worth the $35pp charge. the maining dining room it was overall good. and the cucina del captiano was amazing too $15 pp charge. Me and mom my enjoyed the comedians onboard. they were great. the shows were good too. I love hasbro the game show was interesting but something different to watch or participate in.  The serenity deck adults only area was huge but the pool there is very small but theres plenty of relaxing since its 3 decks. Drinks were awesome. love loved the javeblue cafe shake spot. the best shake was kick up island delight. i drank about 8 of them the 6th one is free lol. I dont think I'll book a carnival cruise with out that cafe on board. the staff was great. loved the cruise director jaime. They all work super hard i dont know how they do it. The 2.0 upgrades on this ship were worth it. Cheers to you Carnival. Next one wil be the Carnival Breeze..

This was our 5th cruise, but our first with Carnival.  We had a blast!  The ship was beautiful & clean.  There were lots of great places to eat and drink - i think we tried almost all of them!  There was plenty of great entertainment.  We made lots of new friends at the Sports Pub.  We enjoyed movies & pop corn on the big screen every night, followed by fun in the casino. The water slide was lots of fun!  And on lazy days we thoroughly enjoyed the Serenity deck.  We were very pleased with Carnival and look forward to another cruise next summer!  

Although there were a few 'hiccups' on this cruise, I will always cruise with Carnival Cruise. On the Lido deck, the soft drink dispensers (just before you entered the inside dining area) seemed to be leaking quite a bit a water. Although the crew members were working feverishly to correct the situation, it still leaked water during the entire cruise. And there was a small metal grate just as you stepped out from the hot tub up by the Serenity area that was very slippery. Guy's Burger are the best. I ate more cheese burgers (and fries) in that one week than I've eaten in the past 25 years. My favorite moments were sipping coffee with a good book catching the sun rises. I loved the buffet style breakfast. The hot tub experience was awesome. The cruise ship was very comfortable (our cabin was right under the cheese burger station). In fact, the food was great. Overall, I loved the experience (the carefreeness) and can't wait to do it again next year.