Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Thank you so much Christina Drumm () for working tirelessly and patiently year after year in accommodating me and my family. 

I was okay with this cruise.  Just okay.  On occasion, disappointed. Carnival seems to be cutting back.  Charging for certain items on the Room Service menu.

Trying to fit too many people on board, which clearly, this ship can't accommodate.  

My favorite part of the cruise was the fun things on deck. I enjoyed lounging on deck sometimes in the sun and other times in the shade. I enjoyed my first massage everb it was awesome. The food was very good. Carnival honored my request for a refrigerator in my cabin as I had medication that had to be refrigerated. 

Our overall experience was most favorable.  The staff, room, activities, etc., were fun.  Of course, the pools wee too small for the number of passengers but that is true of most  ships.  The variety and quality of the food was very good but often  it was served cool and not hot.  The entertainment was top notch with the exception of the Hasbro Game show - fun for kids but not so for adults.  As I said we all fully enjoyed the cruise and cant wait for the next one.

I love that we were able to go to multiple islands! But I wish we would stay longer ex. get off the ship at 9am but be back by 3pm that was to short and the line to get back on the ship was ridiculous. wasn't able to do or see lots of different things. Also, have more bartenders!! But in all it was an amazing cruise

Our most favorite part of the cruise was our conversations with crew members.

The ship needs an overall.  The cabins were small, the bathrooms were not easy to navigate.  More public rest rooms are needed, garbage cans were scarce. The lido deck was over crowded, not enough room for eating in the buffet /lido deck. Serpendity deck had too many under age people. Food was not the best, neither was the entertainment.

i would not recommend the Carnival Sunshine to anyone.

This was my 15 cruise and 14tlh cruise with Carnival.  Overall the crew and the ship were great.    The entertainment was constant, and Emma our cruise director was one of the best that I've seen.  The food in the dining room and in the specialty restaurant's was top notch.  Lido deck and buffet were excellent as well.  If I had to be critical the one point that needs improvement was the wait time in the main dining room.  I had the option time that allowed us to eat whenever we wanted and seemed that they could use more staff in the dining room to help reduce the wait time.  Other than that nice job with everything else.  The kids had a great time as well and loved both the water park and Camp Carnival.  

 I just have to say that this was by far the best vacation that I have ever had.  Everyone was super nice and respectful.  The food was excellent too. I am already looking forward to my next one and I am in fact looking now.  Thank you Carnival for making my very first cruise so enjoyable. 

So much to do with the kids! Carnival Camp is amazing when the adults want to have some alone time worry free! The food is great, I never felt crowded or rushed during meals or events. Even going thru customs, embankment and disbarment was very well organized. My next trip I will upgrade my room (I had the balcony suite on cloud 9) which was wonderful but once the second queen size bed comes out leaves little room for all 4 of us to move about without bumping into each other. Overall great trip, my travel agent was amazing, and I would recommend to anyone of all ages. P.S. The kids waterpark was equally fun for us adults too :-)

Great Trip, staff very polite and courteous, very clean and well sanitized all over the ship, food quality very good and the entertainment was great so many activities  and competitions happening constantly. Off shore activities also outstanding, Grand Turks the Hummer experience was great Romeo was very nice and his assistant, Half Moon Cay, Bahamas the Calypso tram ride was great, Nassau, Bahamas Day Pass at the Atlantis Aqua Adventure was Fantastic and beautiful grounds it was well worth it. Highly recommend it!!!

The visit to the lovely islands were dreamy and exciting. All three Islands were extremely hospitable, especially Puerta Plata in Santo Domingo with BABA Alex and the Crew who were very welcoming, professional and always had a friendly smile. While on the carnival sunshine the staff on each floor were peasant and the food in the restaurant was enjoyable and different. The view from my balcony was breath taking. 

The good things - the shows were great, the entertainment overall was pretty good.  The Dr. Seuss themed events were fun (we had a 6 year old with us), we paid extra for the Green Eggs & Ham breakfast and it was well worth the money, the menu was creative and the wait staff were entertaining. We also paid for sushi lunch one time and that was tasty and a nice atmosphere, also worth the extra.  Some of the other lunch options, Guy's burgers and Mongolian Wok, were complementary which was a nice touch.

Bad things - the ship has been refurbished from 2600 to 3000 guests and it shows in a few places.  The stateroom and the main dining lounge both felt pretty cramped.  When we arrived the bathroom smelled bad - my wife went round it with disinfecting wipes and it was better - apart from that, the stateroom staff were fine, friendly, did what was expected.  We heard horror stories about plumbing in some of the upper decks.

Pool options for our 6 year old were limited.  The one pool on the Lido deck was small and usually crowded, a little too deep and not really safe for him when the water started sloshing round.  He didn't do the big slides, so all that's left is a pair of mini slides and a tiny splash area which he spent hours in.

The dining room wait staff were great, they were very friendly, remembered our names and what we liked, but there were just not enough of them.  Our team were working at least another 3 or 4 tables, sometimes it took a loooong time to get service.  Not their fault, they just needed more staff.  Every other night the Maitre D' made the poor staff stop everything and do some dancing, making the problem worse.  Doing that a couple of times during an 8 night cruise would have been enough.

Disembarkation for shore excursions at the first stop and re-embarkation at the end of the day were a farce.  They made everyone on an excursion, a couple thousand people, all wait in the main showroom and all leave together through one little door with no thought given to wheelchairs until a couple of minutes before.  Everyone was late off the ship and the tour started over half an hour late as a result.  Getting back on board at the end of the day was worse, we lined up for 45 minutes in the sun to get back on board the ship.  Someone only came round with water about 5 minutes before we got back on board.  The other stops were fine though, even Half Moon Cay which needed tender boats.

Lunch on the beach at Half Moon Cay was also badly organized.  The burgers were rare, and they ran out of ice, water, plates...  In fact, by the end of the cruise, supplies of things like pina colada mix and bottles of wine for dinner were running out.  These are things the cruise line makes $$$ on, so running out is a basic mistake.

DON'T BUY DUTY FREE LIQUOR UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT IT.  Any cruise line with any sense would deliver the duty free to the stateroom on the last night of the cruise.  No... everyone had to line up at 6am the final morning to pick it up in the main dining room.  The line was two thirds the length of the ship, it took 90 minutes to get the liquor.  Totally crazy.

Even with all that, we still had a good time, I mean, you're cruising, it's hard not to.  It's just that we've done a lot of cruises before so we know when some things are not right.

The ship was overall dirty and not very well maintained.....the crew were rude and lacking customer service skills.  Several dissatisfied onboard long lines to resolve complaints.  We have cruised with Carnival 8 times and this was a very rare exception for the condition of the ship and crew. The carnival island port visit was a waste of time.  Also the Park West folks are a rip off....they have this scam contest to guess the retail price of a Peter max art work...i guess the price exactly then they tell you you won a work of art, you go to pick it out then they want to charge you to have it framed $250.00 or $35.00 to have it tube shipped....just a scam....i told them to keep it.

Carnival Sunshine is a fantastic ship. It is beautiful inside. My Ocean view room was outstanding. The staff are friendly and accommodating.   Several places to eat. Great nightly shows. Would cruise on this ship again.

Carnival has gotten GREAT at "nickel and diming" passengers.  EVERYTHING seems to have a cost.  The soda card is now a joke.  If you want to take the can with you to your room....forget it.  You can't.  

In the dining room, the Matre' D' continues to remind you of how great the staff is....too bad the food quality has SLUMPED over the years.  Choices are much more limited than on past Carnival jaunts.  

The 8 night, DR, Grand Turk, Private Island cruise doesn't leave a lot of time to enjoy any port.  

That all said, going with a large group is always fun.  The shows were really very good (although the male entertainers were no where near as talented as the females).  The steakhouse was good too, but another "revenue stream" for Carnival.

We will probably stick with the higher end cruise lines going forward, but might hit a Carnival sale for a quick get-away if the price is right.

My favorite part was the group dinner at Cucina de Capitano   Our  large group also enjoyed the comedians. Billy (PG) June, etc. Loved  Both Excursions  DR & Turks  Beaches and the Private Oasis Rental -Steward was attentive, hardworking. Tasty room service food but fees for certain items. Fahrenheit Steak house was good. Sad Night life ends @12:00am & bars closed. Need more Live performances with some late night times particulary near the great space in near the Alchemy bar & Red Frogs.  Drink early and often w/ Drink pkg. Didn't enjoy seeing "du rags" and cruise bathrobes used outside cabins.  Ill-positioned Pingpong table causing balls to slip from moisture or went overboard. Cabin showed slight signs of wear from past life ie Cabin Ceiling Rust, chipping paint on bunks.  Pool and hottubs were past capacity-think double decker or Vienna sausages. Awkward cabin toilet positioning & T-paper holder. Cabin size smaller than Splendor but TV was nicely sized, got to watch the Olympics. Thumbs up on  Shakespot. Froyo was a nice change than just ice cream. Whats the deal with a half court basketball  and single hoop!. Overall it was the most expensive cruise(had 3  cabins and had felt short of expectation in comparison to the very old  Splendor where  they were  waiters walking around taking drink order versus the Sunshine non existent ones.

I am a loyal Carnival cruiser. Every ship that I've ever sailed on I've been on at least twice--leaving from NY is super convenient and the embark/debark has always been very smooth.  I was elated when a "new" boat arrived in NY this year; there are such limited options in general for NY. 

Highlights of the cruise: Excellent service, excellent entertainment, excellent food. Carnival has never disappointed me in any of these areas--we even saw our waiter from our last cruise--and he remembered us! Guy's Burger Joint is a great thing-that met and exceeded my expectations. It was great to go to a different port (Dominican Republic) as my husband and I have pretty much been to all the ports that are offered from NY several times...Half Moon Cay is the place I could go to 100's of times and never lose the sense of serenity and "slice of paradise" feeling when I'm there...Our cruise director, Emma, was super sweet and clearly she has a passion for what she does, which is great to see. Missing Malcolm "Woo Hoo" Burn as we sailed with hime 4 or 5 times...but overall Emma was super charismatic and peppy-and lets face it every cruise ship employee works tirelessly most hours of every day so that we can enjoy a vacation...I have a lot of admiration and respect for all of them! 

Lowlights of the cruise: The rooms are SUPER dated; and are generally smaller than other carnival ships. The Ocean Suite we stayed in was smaller, and the bathroom size was almost laughable considering it was nearly twice the size on the Splendor. This would all be fine if the prices were not the same--so basically we payed the same amount of money last year for a bigger and better room. 

*There were several instances where the food or drink "ran out"---something which I've never experienced on any cruise before. Whipped Cream, Mango (for drinks), root beer, Coors Light, VANILLA ICE CREAM?" Never did get to have that root beer float; the *three* times I went there was no root beer.  Carnival, if you are going to have a "Shake Spot," please make sure you have the ingredients to make what is on the menu.  

*This casino must have the absolute worst ventilation of any Carnival ship I've been on. And worse still, the cherry smell that they use to cover it up. So its this dirty, cherry, smokey, stale smell--smoking machines are literally right next to non smoking machines. It makes no sense.  And don't be to eager to hit 1500 spins to get that free drink card; there were several nights where there were no waiters around for HOURS...and when we approached the bar we were told we had to be sitting at a machine to get served....yet there were no waiters...hmmm..

*The clientele may be changing; several people acted like animals and yelled, screamed, and cursed up and down the halls nightly at 3am..door decorations were stolen and shoes were thrown up and down the hall.  One afternoon, I heard a loud noise/yell/scream in the hallway and opened my cabin door to make sure everyone was ok--to be greeted by a classless individual cursing me out to "get back in my cabin" and that this was "her vacation too..." She threatened to "**** me up...." CLASSY people, classy. 

*I won't sail the Sunshine again; too small, too dated in many areas, and in my opinion not a good fit for the NY crowd.  

Worst part was the shower drain smelling of sewage and they pumped out the drain to have water and feces floating around on the floor of the bathroom and the immediate carpet. Guest services were not helpful, however the head of housekeeping came and sterilized the floor and washed the carpet. We lived with that smell for 3 days before having the sewage pumped out. 

Best was our food servers and the cruise director. Carnival also damaged my mother in laws luggage which was brand new and was a gift from her daughter. 

As a first time cruisers , it was grate & much better than we expecting . 

Everything was well organized, on time & CLEAN .hope to have more vacations with you .

By all means, the piano bar and the comic.  Oh, and dinner. The service was exceptional.  Roxanna and Anthony were great and the food was delicious.  Our cabin was always clean and ready for us when we returned.  Wish we had bedside tables on both sides of the bed and more shelving in the closet area. 

This cruise was wonderful. The boat is very nice, food is excellent, staff is very friendly and helpful. Would recommend this cruise to anyone looking for somewhere different to go. There was 5 of us and we all loved it. We went to St John, Canada not Bermuda