Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Customer care was a priority. I have some handicap issues and shipboard personnel could not be more accommodating. Our travel agent called several time to check on our progress and to make sure everything was going well. Thanks Laurie!!!!

What a bank for the buck. My wife and I will never forget our first cruise.

Well I loved every bit of this cruise.Weather is excellent food was superb n just a all around good time..Crew impressed me with there hard work ethic..Oh I also took the behind the scene tour n it was fantastic n the best 95 dollars I spent on myself...I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it..The only thing I wish they would add is more nightclubs..They only had one n it opened at 1145 n no one was attending it...Or maybe open it a bit earlier...

This was our third cruise and it was fantastic. The ship and pools were very clean and well kept. We had the pleasure of being served by "adi" ,from Romania, in the sunrise restaurant.

We saw the magic show it was very good.

The only irritation was the inconsiderate people reserving chairs with towels and not using them for hours on end around the deck and especially on the serenity deck.

The ports were good.  The waiters, staff, food and room were good.  The first nights waiter was poor.  We found a good waiter  and kept him for the rest of the cruise.  He and his assistant were great.  The activities and entertainment was poor.   To much loud music.  Not enough information available on board the ship for what is happening.  No quiet area.  The only area that was quiet was the library.  It was to cooled to stay there.  We played cards in the dinning room for entertainment.

I used to cruise a lot in the past including Carnival Cruise Lines..  I never had a bad cruise.  This was my first and last bad experience with Carnival.

The food was good but I didn't like the fact that if you wanted a good steak from the main dinning room you had to pay a $20 extra.  The entertainment was the best I have ever seen.  I had trouble getting my cabin stewart to bring ice one day and had to get room service to bring the ice.  I also had to ask to have the sheets changed.  But the cruise was very good other than those problems.

Food was lacking flavor but staff was great.  Our cabin Steward was the best of any cruise we have had.  Will cruise again for sure and would ask for same cabin so would have same steward.  CD Emma was amazing!

Had a great time on shore visits. really enjoyed Neives.

went with 8 other people. of the 10, 8 came down sick on Sat.1-21.

Still not feeling well yet(1-30-) to mix with friends and neighbors. 1 went to ER,

told he had Carollavircus.

in today's age of modern medicine as well as contemporary trends, why would you allow smoking in a cruise casino.  Sure, some people still smoke, however, most people do not.   So to satisfy the needs of a few, they sacrificed the needs of the many.  Sure, there may be a correlation between drinkers and gamblers to smoking, however, that does not justify exploding the on smokers to secondary smoke or denying them a chance to enjoy the same amenities that they are paying for.  More important from the business side of the equation, if you banned smoking in all casinos, there would not be any drop in participation.  Why, simply because the smoker would have no other place to go.  This has been proven long ago when resturants banned smoking.

Embarkation went well. It was downhill from there. Our bags were late getting to us with no reason given. Our dinner request couldn't be accommodated. We were left to wait for a seat and be treated like a typical restaurant. The service was not great. The food was never exceptional. It was all about the same as any other restaurant you would go to. That was disappointing because one of the most exciting things to us about a cruise is the dinner experience and getting to know the staff on a somewhat personal level. Our room was good. Our room steward was great. But, shared a wall with a bar and was loud. Most nights that bar had LOUD live music. I have no idea why it was so loud because it was a small space. We heard loud banging noises through the night, that didn't seem to come from the bar. They were from below us somehow. That kept us up most nights, if the music didn't already have us up. The staff wasn't nearly as friendly as in past cruises. In fact, most staff just answered questions, took our order and generally acknowledged us. Carnival has a reputation of exceptional service and super friendly staff, which is another reason why I have loved the 2 previous cruises. But we didn't have that experience this time. Also, the room the comedians was in was TINY. We had to wait in line to even have a hope of getting seats. There weren't as many options for entertainment as in past cruises. One of the main reasons we chose this cruise was the Half Moon Cay stop. But, because of weather, we didn't get to stop there. We were compensated with another day in Nassau, which isn't comparable at all. We weren't compensated in any other way, or even offered anything else. I could continue complaining, but would rather not. I called Carnival to let them know we were disatisfied, and all they offered was $25 for me and $25 for my husband bar credit on our next cruise. That's after spending $1800 on the ship in things that they made complete profit on (drinks, casino & WIFI package). Overall, we were very dissatisfied with this cruise, and will probably not cruise again. We would rather try all inclusive resorts or other vacations.

My a/c didn't work my last night.  My wifi didn't work in my room which is where I needed it most. 

Staff was excellent especially waiters for dining. Food was great .

THIS WAS MY WIFES FIRST TIME ON CARNIVAL AND EVERYTHING THAT SHE DID WAS MADE VERY EASY FOR HER TO ACCOMPLISH.  SERVICE WAS OUTSTANDING AND SHE ALSO ENJOYED THE BUFFET AND DINNER IN THE ITALIAN RESTAURANT WAS SURPURB.

This ship has alot of activities.  Even though we didnt use the pool bc it was cold in January,  there was still plenty to do.  The food was really good, guys burgers are soooo good!  However the room service food was just cold sandwiches,  that menu definitely needs improvement.   So we got pizzas and brought them to the room at night.  The entertainment was great! Family friendly,  wouldn't change a thing there.  The cabin staff was fantastic. The last night deck party was family friendly with a huge congo line! So refreshing that it wasnt full of drunks. I would have given 5 stars if there were more hot tubs and better room service food. But overall it was one of the better ships we've been on.  

Our cruise started with an amazing New Year's Eve party by the pool, it was such a great way to start off our vacation!  Overall, the cruise was wonderful, but very windy most of the time.  That caused a few rough nights and days at sea, so if this is your first cruise, I might recommend an itinerary that sticks closer to land or does close island hopping.  The Carnival Sunshine is a beautiful boat.  We had an Ocean View room and I must say, its one of the bigger rooms we've had on a cruise ship, even the shower was bigger than most!  We also really liked the way the pools were set up, where the adult pool was outside and still part of all the action happening on the Lido deck, yet separate enough where you didn't have the screams or splashes of kids.  We also loved all the dining options so at lunchtime it didn't feel like complete ciaos at the buffet.  There were also options in the Havana bar and the burger and burrito bars by the pool.  This really helps spread of the crowd out and really makes a difference in your dining experience.  We also had the best service staff in the Sunset dining room. We especially loved Yuli from Indonesia and Jayson!!  Overall, this was one of the better cruises we taken and we've tried many of the competing cruise lines.  Thanks again, Carnival, we've really seen their service and experience improve in recent years!! 

Great price for exciting cruise. Clean boat and great service. Something for everyone. Grand Turk a must visit. Could not have ask for a more convenient vacation. 

We were sold wine packages:  total of 40 bottles in our group.  The second evening they ran out of our wine.  The fourth night the red wine selection was very limited.

I want to preface this review by stating that this is my 3rd cruise with carnival and i did have a good time. There were a few issues on the ship that caused a good deal of frustration.

The Good:

Most of the staff put together some great events. The comedy team was fantastic and the hypnotist was very entertaining. 

The house keeping staff was unbelievable. I'm telling you, unrivaled service. 

Waterslide? Yep.

The music: Blended Soul was one of the greatest cover bands I've ever seen and we made sure to see them almost every night. 

The food at the asian stir fry and omelette station was amazing. The buffet? Meh...

The Bad:

The dining situation was weak. We opted for the "Your Time Dining" and found that on multiple nights we were waiting at the hostess station for 30-40 minutes after we had been paged. There was one night where the wait service was so bad that the whole dining experience took over 2 hours. We missed one of the shows we wanted to attend. Awful. 

The cruise director, although a catalyst for energy in the crowd, seemed a bit self important. There were a few situations where the band was playing and the cruise director would sing over them as if it was a live karaoke contest. The "trivia" nights seemed like a vessel for him to showcase his Michael Jackson impression, and vocal talents. He's a talented man but very self focused. 

There was supposed to be a 40 min limit on how long you could leave your towels out on a lounge chair on the deck to claim your spot. This wasn't policed until the last sea day and I witnessed many altercations on board. I would wake up at 7am to get a spot and half the ship was already taken with people who left towels and sandals overnight. 

The disembarkment process was convoluted and atrocious. I understand that we were late due to the storm, however instead of letting us go floor by floor they sent 4-5 decks out at once which caused a HUGE confusion. No one was informative, the help desk could not be reached, and the only loud speaker update we received was a reminder not to smoke on the deck. 

I was largely disappointed with my experience on board and I'm not sure if I'll take another cruise. Notable staff that I applauded are Bradley, B. Lo, and Tevin. They all put on wonderful shows and got the people excited. 

With the exception of disembarkment, the overall cruise was excellent ! Unfortunately getting off at the end of the cruise was a logistic nightmare ! They need to organize a much better system as it took over 2 hours and was extremely taxing.

The ports is what attracted us to this cruise.  We had been on Carnival Sunshine two years ago and enjoyed the ship.  However, didn't enjoy it so much this time.  The anytime dining experience was poor each and every night.  We had to wait at least 30 minutes any given night for bread and never got out of the dining room in under 2 hours. Service was terrible.  However, in 2014 service in the anytime dining was very good.  Something definitely had changed!  We had a small snafu twice.  For instance, we handed Elena our pager but she gave our dining ticket to another waiter who took another couple.  We kept telling her that she took our pager --so she had another waiter seat us, but the table was already being used by the previous couple. They had got the table that was meant for us.  We did get a tray of goodies delivered to our room the next day with a thank you note.  But again, it was the service in the dining room that was horrible.  

I had a fabulous time. It was better than I expected. The crew members were great and made the trip so enjoyable.  I would recommend Carnival to everyone.

Overall I give the cruise a 5 out of 10, there wasn't enough deck space on the days we were at sea for everyone to enjoy the deck and pools. It was extremely overcrowded. The food was ok but nothing to brag about and I love to eat. Service and employees on the ship were extremely nice and friendly. I am a very active person so to be at sea for 2-1/2 days at the beginning was extremely boring. The ropes coarse was closed most of the time due to high winds. If you love beach time and to be in the water I wouldn't suggest this cruise. Aruba and curaçao are great for shopping but that's it. Grand Turk will always be a favorite for the snorkeling and time on the beach.