Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The itinerary was everything we expected, the ships accomodations were as expected, but the quality, selection and availability of food especially in the Lido buffet was disappointing.

We got a wonderful first taste of the countries that we visited. We had excellent excursions and learned a lot about each place that we visited. This will give us a base line that will help us to know which countries to come back to visit for a longer visit in the future.

Good Cruise but did not exceed my expectations nor even match them. Not the right cruise for a 19-35 yr old age group. Ship layout needs to be reconfigured. It does not work. Staff was friendly and attentive but not great.

Port stops were breath taking. Ship was OK - the refurb was way over hyped, service was poor / fair at best. There is a reason Carnival is the most popular cruise line, it caters to the masses. The food / service reflect a laisse faire attitude. In my eyes, they have mass merchandised cruising to the point of hum drum. If you are going to Europe and spending the money, make it special and take a smaller, higher end cruise line. Otherwise, be prepared to join the masses and be part of the cattle call.

As newly weds, we had a lovely experience. The only 2 things that I was annoyed with was I had to get up at 5am to secure a cabana in the upper(adults only) area. There should be a revolving system where all passengers wanting to use the area, have turns using it. As a newly wed, it would have been nice to be able to have it for more than just a day. Also, I noticed that the spa specials were not offered at convenient times. Sign up times usually opened when 90% of the passengers were out on excursions. Otherwise the food and other services were highly recommendable.

J'ai fait une croisière sur ce bateau 19 - 28 juillet 2013. La cabine a été très propre, la nourriture très bonne, le service aussi bon. J’ai moins aimé le service à la clientèle; il était mal organisé. Il y avait toujours de longues files d’attentes. C’est normal : pour 3000 passagers il y avait seulement trois personnes pour répondre aux questions ou aux demandes donc on pourrait passer facilement 2-3 heures à attendre. En plus les annonces faites par M. Mirel on les attendait presque pas si on était à l’extérieur. Même pendant les annonces la musique continuait assez fort, donc je n’ai pas pu être informée quand il y a eu des changements d’horaire. C’est sure que, quand tu te dépêches pour ne pas être en retard sur le bateau et après une course presque folle, tu apprends que l’horaire a été modifié (le départ retardé d’une heure et demie) tu ne peux pas trouver ça drôle. La communication a été très mal organisée.

The cruise was a great experience on how other parts of the world live and how they got started hundreds of years ago. Fun on shore and fun on the ship for a great trip. Better evening shows would be a great thing to look foreword to in the evening. The airline lost one of four bags we checked but with constant checking by the cruise line the stray bag caught us at the third port. I wish I had been all the places that bag went. The hamburger and French fry stand on deck nine by the pool was the best place for lunch.

I had a great time the cruise was marvelous and the excursions were superb. The hospitality of the ships crew was amazing. The apprearance of the ship, and the food was awesome, however some of the entertainment was boring and not at all what I expected. I expected more adult entertainment , such as a club for the adults to go dancing at night. The Karoke bar was mostly country western. Several adults danced in the atrium after attending the shows or while waiting to attend the shows. I have always loved the shows and the dancers were great.

Pros: We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and we were excited about the renovation of the Sunshine. The stops are amazing and since Carnival is not doing a Europe season next year this was the last chance we had to for the next few years unless we chose another line. We had a blast off the ship. Europe is incredibly easy to get around. You can get a train to anywhere you want to go and it's cheap. Rome was our favorite stop along the way. The family friendly comedy was good and the game shows were really fun (nice choice to partner with Hasbro). Trivia is always entertaining. Guy's burger joint NEVER disappoints. I eat there at least twice on every cruise. Best burger you will ever eat. I have never been disappointed by staff on any Carnival cruise and this was no exception. They were all polite and professional and did a great job. I had an aft view extended balcony room and that was the best deck I've ever had. I fear I am ruined for any other kind of balcony room now and will pay through the nose the rest of my life lol. The last sea day we watched pods of dolphins playing in the wake of the ship. Cons: It's port intensive which can be exhausting if you get off at every port (we did). While most of the ship was upgraded there are still some issues (my travel partner had a gigantic stain on her carpet and there were multiple buckets in the hallways catching leaks so apparently the upgrade didn't include the pipes which seems really silly to me). For the first time ever the food in the main dining room disappointed. Found a bone in some chicken soup and we were served off of dirty plates one night. We normally look forward to all sorts of deliciousness (which we got a lot of the time) but by the end we were tired of it. Some of it was downright gross (hollandaise on the eggs was a skin instead of a sauce - we sent it back twice). The punchline comedy brunch was not entertaining at all. The comic came up, asked a few diners some questions, and left. We were still sitting there waiting for the comedy 5 minutes later when we realized it was over. Serenity Area needs to be managed. People are pigs and would literally sleep up there overnight to "reserve" space for the next day. Carnival needs to set up some kind of system so more than 40 guests on a 12 day cruise get to enjoy it (and this is fleetwide). The same people were up there every day hogging it. Oddly, the layout of the ship itself is confusing. We are seasoned cruises who usually have any layout memorized in a few hours since they are all sort of the same. Day 10 I was still looking for places and kept having to consult the map to figure out where things were (made more complicated by the similar names of places - has both the Liquid and the Limelight Lounge which are on opposite sides of the ship). Overall, with some minor issues, it was a fabulous trip. You wont be able to take this cruise next year so not sure how helpful this will be to future travelers but the Sunshine will sail other places too.

Excellent cruise. Not for first time cruisers. Up early every day to explore the great ports. Rome in July is really crowded, keep that in mind. Amalfi coast is spectacular. Monaco a big positive surprise. Spend extra days in Barcelona, such a FANTASTIC city, we spent 6 extra days there and LOVED it. Food on cruise was ok, not great.

We have never cruised with Carnival before and were a little bit wary however Carnival Sunshine was great. The service was great, the food was great and our cabin was wonderful as well. The comedians and the main entertainers were very entertaining. There were little things we did not love but it would not stop us from going on Carnival again. Didn't love the layout of ship. We also felt that the buffet was delicious however there were not many choices. It was limited. And they close it down at 9:30pm and there are not many places left to eat after that unless you want pizza every night. The magician and mind reader weren't that great, But overall the cruise was fabulous.

We enjoyed the cruise but we missed some of the amenities we had experienced on other cruises. We missed the opportunities to have dance areas with music after the show, daily activities like classes - dance lessons, classes such as jewelry making, dance lessons etc, chocolate night in the dining room, chocolate every night on the pillow ,game shows for adults and theme night up on the pool deck like Caribbean night . The food was great, the staff very accommodating. The ships excursions seemed to be well accommodated but there was very little information available for those going ashore - such as shuttle services. No one seemed to know where and when but transportation was usually there when we finally found it. The evening shows were great as was the newly renovated ship.

This cruise was the first we went on, and overall was an amazing cruise. We not only enjoyed the food, but enjoyed the activities that were offered on the cruise. The room service people were friendly and they treated us like family. Some of them even remember your names! This was definitely an outstanding cruise and we would love to go back on a Carnival cruise anytime!

We liked our cruise, but not the ship. Here is the negative review. Carnival has a lot of issues on this ship. It was just overhauled but it seemed there was more to enhance the bars than being organized. We had over a 3 hour wait in line to board the ship. At one point their computers went down but we were not informed at first. Other couples in our party had some problems. When leaving the ship two couples did not get their luggage and Carnival will have to send it to them from Spain. Several cabins were flooded from the toilet, and the ship did not have hot water one evening. There was not enough entertainment that is usually found on Carnival. The food was not up to Carnival standards. Compared with RCCL, Carnival needs some work.

We were surprised to see the renovaions on the ship were not done yet. For example windows in the dining room were a mess, one area made you queezy because of the windows. The sprinkler heads in our stateroom were covered and would would be ineffective in fire situation. The door glass windows to the balcony were severly scratched and disgusting. Overlooking the stateroom and dining facilities the common areas of the ship were clean and operational. Cruise ports of call very good. We enjoyed visits to Europe very much. Food in main dining area was good to very good and wait service was very good. Seating personnel on initial visits were not very accomodating but improved later after several complaints. Casino operations only fair. Disapponted with shore excursion in Venice. Entertainment in liquid lounge was lacking with the exception of the musical presentations which were excellent with vey talented pros. Perhaps improvements in TV productions and PA/computer systems that failed on several occasion should be considered. The TV in the stateroom never worked correctly which was virtually unwatchable.

Our room was described from Carnival’s as “room for 2 people, has two twin beds and a sofa,” but there was no sofa in the room, but ONE stool, so the siting area is the bed for the 12 days. Also our room is at the rear of the ship, when it is leaving or coming to the port, the whole room shake like earthquake, we are not happy with our room and the cruise staff was not helpful at all when we tell them about the loud noise and smell. The 3rd and 4th floor by the rear stair case near both dinning rooms has a very bad odor, smelled like garbage or waste from the sewer, our room sometime also has some funny smell. Also some of the public restroom has water on the floor and some of the toilet can not flush, it is hard to believe that this ship is newly renovated.

I will start from positives. * The stuff is polite and generally does the best to help * The ship is clean. Spa has great - large and hot, steam room (actually 3 or 4 rooms) and dry sauna (see also below) * Food in the dining rooms is generally alright (see the cons below). * Reasonable selection of wine. Mostly the wine is from CA (you are in Europe guys, you can have France and Italy wines tax free) but the selection is alright. You are not going to see anything exclusive on the wine card. Now the cons. * Carnival changed one of the ports 3 or 4 weeks before departure and let us know via e-mail. We did not pre order anything (no rented cars, hotels, excursions) so it was not an issue for us, but I can imagine that some people were annoyed. * Service gratitude is mandatory, it is part of the bill and for 10 days trip it is $100 for a person. In our case $300 or ~10% of the total cost. For many people on the ship it was a nasty last day surprise. Consider that you can get a cabin for $600 or less and $100 add on looks significant. * Swimming pool was closed. Carnival credited $100 to compensate the missing swimming pool. The ship is just after $150mil renovation. This was second trip after the renovation and name change - used to be Carnival Destiny, now Carnival Sunshine. Money well spent guys, ah? * Phone in the cabin did not work 3 days. We have spent a couple of hours with an electrician in our cabin. It was not great joy. Again the ship is after $150 mil investment. * In my case all spa services was included - this is called spa cabin. The spa costs $160 if you have to buy it. This is the largest steam room I have ever seen. I visited the sauna every day and I never met anybody there. What a waste of 50 feet long room full of 70 degree steam. Drop the price to $60 and may be people will start to come there. * The last day started at 5 (five) AM when the ship radio called the first 'zone' to get out of the ship. They want the ship to be empty before 10AM. There is not much to do in Barcelona, 6AM Sunday. Barcelona airport is not bad, but it is not the best place for the family with small kid either. Our flight was 2PM. So you can imagine. * 1.5L bottle of water costs $3.5. The bottles wait you on the table. If you drink the water you pay. * Photo services are pushed very hard and extremely expensive. A photo for $15? Luckily the kid hates to be shoot and we did not buy any photos. * Low hanging lamps in the restaurants and dining rooms are simply dangerous and wait for an accident. * One show (from 4 we have seen) was alright. Generally the shows are low quality. Nooman (manager/director) is a nice guy and probably does the best under circumstances. I can not call trivia an evening show especially if it repeats day after day. Lectures in the spa are not a show either. Food - I intentionally put as a separate list. * Do not waste time to visit 'restaurants' like 'el capitan cusine' or sunrise. JiJi is somewhat better, but still is not there. $12/person they charge to visit one of those places + 15% mandatory gratitude. In Italy/Spain you eat very good for this kind of money. * Dear Carnival chief, tomato paste is not a required ingredient in any fish/chicken dish. I have personally tried very good dishes which did not contain any tomato paste. Does it sound like a shock to you? Believe me such dishes exist. Seriously though you put too much, you put it everywhere. Not all your customers are Americans. And not all North Americans eat only ketchup. * The 'Sunrise' restaurant you are assigned for the dinner is a beautiful place to visit. Service is excellent. It is worst (I am not kidding) place on the ship to eat. Chief does his/her best to create an expensive dish which you do not want to try again. From four dishes we tried 3 were bad. * Dessert. You expect the dessert to be delicious. This is not the case on the Carnival ship. The desserts remind average US restaurant. Not fast food chain dessert mind you. It is better, but not by much. Is the review too long already? I can add more, but I guess at this point you got the picture.

first of all this was an amazing trip, my wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding aniversay and we were not disappointed. Europe is beautiful, the weather was pretty good except in France were we caught rain, but even that was cool because we were able to enjoy some expresso and Crepes "Delicious" the ship time was also alot of fun, the food was delicious, the service was great. the only issue we had was our stateroom, the first two nights there was a terrible noise that no one could pin point so they moved us to another cabin, this was a hassle but we would rather sleep than to not move. our next room there was a horrible smell in the restroom, we complained about it but in this case nothing was done, again since it was contained in the restroom we just grinned and beared it. i wish our room accomodations were better but overall the cruise was great. i was hoping that Carnival management would of cared more about taking care of us but i guess they were too busy to talk to us. you hear of all the night mare stories of Carnival Cruises but except for these two major things we might travel again with this cruise line. we will see.

We have just returned from the maiden voyage of Carnival Sunshine 5/5-5/17, and the itinerary of the cruise is very good with lots of major ports/cities to see. Unfortunately, the cruise ship did not complete it's transformation from the former Carnival Destiny, and some guests experienced some issues with overflowing toilets, lack of shower heads, missing lights, and other minor problems. We had a lovely balcony room, but our bathroom had a bad urine odor for the duration of the cruise until the maintenance department finally fixed the issue around the the 2nd to last day of the 12 days Mediterranean cruise. The issue was fixed after many hours spent waiting in the long line at customer service for multiple times. There is also the unpleasant smell of paint and construction in some parts of the ship, such as on the 4th Floor near the unimpressive fine dining Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse that has so-so food for $35 extra charge per person; the service staff is excellent though. The WaterWorks deck was closed until the 2nd Day at Sea on 5/15 towards the end of the cruise, but the main pool on Lido Deck remained closed for the duration of the cruise. Carnival refunded $75 per person for the late opening and closure. Even though the cruise ship supposedly went through $155 million renovation, not all the rooms have been remodeled and some rooms may appear worn even balcony rooms. The decoration throughout the ship is not as beautiful as other ships such as the Carnival Splendor. One may wonder where the money all went for the remodeling, and we speculate that a lot of it went to the mind-blowing stage lights/screens for the two must-see shows debuted on the two "At-Sea" nights. Unfortunately, most of the remaining other performances on stage may make you wish you had not wasted time attending. The food on board was good, and we were pleased with the dining room food, afternoon tea, and kind staff. The 24-hour pizza provided on Lido Deck is also delicious, especially if you get a hot one fresh out of the oven. Overall, Carnival Sunshine still has some quirks and hiccups, and even though I am not quite certain that I would have picked this ship knowing what I know now, we had an enjoyable time seeing the wonderful cities around the Mediterranean.

Overall we enjoyed our cruise very much. The ship is older but kept up nicely. Casino was just ok for us, it was smoke filled in many areas, and lacked the fun games we usually play. Entertainment was great, our activity director Leon was great. Lots to do. Pools small and walking/jogging outdoor track did not go the entire length of ship.