Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We really enjoyed the entertainment and the comedians on the Carnival Sunshine. Our cruise director, Emma, was amazing! We don't think she ever slept because she was always interacting with the passengers and always had a smile on her face! Every staff member that we had contact with, servers, bartenders, cleaning staff, entertainers and the clerks in the shops on the ship were helpful and a pleasure to deal with. We really enjoyed chatting with Luxi, the Manager of "A Cherry on Top" the on board candy shop. The spa is also beautiful and very relaxing. My husband had a massage and I had a manicure and pedicure. Julia was especially helpful and she did an amazing job. We cannot wait for our next cruise!

Our only complaint is that the 2 pools were not nearly large enough for the number of passengers. 

The food was great. Still offering Lobster Tail on formal night and we also had prime rib two nights and filet mignon accompanied by eggs was offered for breakfast at least twice during the week.  The "Anytime Dining" needs some improvement.  Have to go to one floor to make reservation, then go to the dining room on another floor and wait for your beeper to go off.  It was usually between a 30 - 60 minute wait time (but in fairness, not sure if it was due to our party size or not, we asked for one table of 12 or 2 tables of 6, whichever came first).

It was my first cruise and I think my overall all experience was positive rather than negative. First impression was... just a lot of people... everywhere, deck, restaurant, etc... I could not avoid. Even if I stay in my room, people are very loud outside until very late. I got motion sickness on the first few days, and I was sick of just lots of people throughout the entire trip, which includes getting off and on at port. I took two kids (6 & 7) - I did appreciate that they have complementary Camp for kids that I could drop them off a few hours here and there. My complaint about the ship is, considering the amount of people (~ 3000), why did they make such a small pool!! Out of two small pools (and three "hot" whirl pools), kids have access to only one pool and two whirl pools. The only one "cold" pool gets so crowded during the day and I had to pull my kids out several times because it was just too dangerous to stay in that pool. Also, if you are not into smoking, you would be surprised how entire ship smells like smoke - basically Casino is smoking area and that leads to open ship area and you can just smell smoke everywhere, not to mention that they somehow decide to set up smoking area on the deck where I need to walk my kids through to get to Camp, I just did not like the set up at all. Food - the buffet area is just average. They change main (meat, pasta, etc....) but salad bar and dessert area were almost same every day. Steakhouse and Asian JiJi restaurant were good. Japanese restaurant (bonsai) was a joke - other than Sushi, there was nothing about Japanese and Sushi quality was really bad that supermarket sushi tastes much better. It should be included in the free meal like other all inclusive resort does.  Since there were 4 sea days total, I think they did good job with entertainment. Most shows were good, and I also enjoyed outside movies when I could find seat. In summary, prepare to deal with lots of people and also slippery deck. Next time, I think I will just fly into all inclusive resort where I can get away from people when I want to.

Our family did extremely well and that's WITHOUT planning or guidance, So can you imagine if we did plan?!!?!?

the staff was beyond friendly, food was good, entertainment was on point... as first time cruisers we decided to do interior, we made it comfy and did well, being that each meal was enjoyed by the windows, we all decided that the next cruise we'll be going for a balcony!!!  we felt safe, and enjoyed our time.

Great staff, needed movies targeted a bit towards grownups also. Wished the comedy shows were new every night.  Food was good....overall experience was amazing. 

I thought this was an incredibly fun four night cruise on the Carnival Sunshine.  

There were four of us in a balcony cabin and it was spacious enough for all of us and the beds were super comfortable.  I researched the cabin and made sure we picked one that was surrounded by other cabins above and below so we had no issues with noise.  My older son did a "Behind the Fun" Tour of the ship and really enjoyed it while my younger son, husband and I did the Dr. Suess Green Eggs and Ham character breakfast.  It was so well done!  Emma was an incredible cruise director.  We were stuck with the late seating but our waiters were great and it all worked out well.  We just had snacks at the buffet to hold us over.  We had previously been on 5 Royal Carribean cruises although the last one was about 11 years ago and thought this was more fun and better value for the money.  We would do this cruise or another Carnival Cruise again!

indian food, not great shows over all I am very disappointed this cruise.  could put some more shows and food was terrible for vegetarian. same food every day .

It stated when I was told by 6 people that passports were required. The 7 person advised me that because I was traveling out and back into the USA by boat a birth certificate and photo id was good. It was my 20th year anniversary and everything that I had prepaid for my anniversary was not provided when requested, cake, champagne etc. I received a gold card on my last cruise on the Breeze January 2016 and June 2016 on the Sunshine I received a red card. I went to guest services 6 times my first 2 days on the ship. They wanted me to name when and what ships I sailed. Are you serious, you should have all that on file. I provided a credit card and nothing was going through, I was told me card was on file, there was problem with my address. I have been living at the same place for 10 years. Provide them with cash and they took $200 for gratuities that day. Are you serious, I don't think so. It is really too much to type. The dining room had a wait to eat and once in the dining room it took forever to get your food. My son vomited and I told several waiters and waitresses to it wasn't until people begin stepping in it that something was done. The icing on the cake was when they destroyed my photos and advised me to pay for them in advance and they would be ready the morning prior to debarkation. I opened up the package as I leaving the ship and the pictures were not of me, they were of someone else. smh Carnival I will be taking my business else where.

Had a great time on this short cruise!  The staff was very welcoming and accommodating.  We were gifted a free dinner from Carnival for my partner's birthday and the room steward also left him gift cards to use onboard!  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed all the entertainment!!!

What I will remember about this cruise is how very helpful, friendly, and accommodating the crew was.  The excursion to St. John's was not good at all. It appeared to be in not such a good area.  The tour excursion to Halifax was awesome, however, one hour to tour the area was not enough time  at all. I was very disappointed in the food quality.  No taste on the desserts, couldn't make out the flavor if my eyes were shut! The meals were just okay, couldn't say delicious, but also couldn't say they were awful.  This ship had too many passengers for my husband and I. I don't think I could recommend this cruise to a friend.

5/5 would repeat . Loved the shows and all the love and enthusiasm shown by every crew member. Only thing I would recommend needs updating is the method on how to find D photos taken of you. Trying to find your printed photo amongst thousands of other photos is too much of a hassle and causes too much traffic on the 4th floor. Why not go digital and save some waste from unpurchased wasted photos which could drop the price and encourage more photo sales. 

TLDR; Go digital instead of printing every photo. Photographers were amazing and professional. Cruise was great.

Dinner and the night life were our favorite parts of this cruise. There was not enough to do in St. John but Halifax was an enjoyable, fun port. I would recommend this cruise to others; the boat was wonderful and the rooms were clean and comfortable. There was wonderful night life and dinner was great - our waiters were fantastic. 

Last summer, I took the Norwegian Breakaway to Bermuda; it was top notch!  I just came back from the Carnival Sunshine last week. It was so disappointing! The food was horrible; greasy burgers from Guy Fieri, tacos in the Iguana Bar; it was all fast food junk. The Lido Marketplace buffet offered dried out pork chops and greasy Asian food. Nothing in the price inclusive restaurants was of high quality.

The entertainment was lame, and the cruise director was annoying. I had to pay extra to go to the Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse restaurant ($35) in order to get the quality of food that was offered everywhere for free on Norwegian. We stopped at Saint John's in Canada. The mall was nice, but there were homeless people everywhere. It was depressing. The only thing I liked about the cruise was the day in Halifax. It's a really nice place to go, and we took a trip to the museum and saw artifacts from the Titanic. I would not recommend this cruise, and I would never go on Carnival again.  Comparing Carnival to Norwegian is like comparing a one-star hotel to a five-star hotel.  Hope this helps someone else from wasting their money!

Everything was awesome in Carnival Sunshine! The food was so good.  The crew was so kind I even love talking to them.  Melissa was one of the crew that I loved talking to in the restaurant.  My kids had a lot of fun in the Camp Carnival and the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast, it was awesome, too. The Punchliner was my favorite, but too short.  I will never forget this vacation.

The best part of the cruise was the time to relax.The Bad side was the Dinning.The Waite staff in the dinning room was pretty bad as it took over 45 min.to get our food as it sat for over 20 min.and I had to ask if it was our food,As we were one of the first in the dinning room yet one of the last to served,it left A sour test and we did not return.Kind of spoiled that part of the trip.

My favorite part of the cruise was the Comedy Club.

My Cabin Steward was great.

What needs improvement is Guest Services. It takes forever to get them on the phone.

I had a Balcony Suite and the first night at sea we were given a notice that the only time the balconies could be cleaned was when the ship was at sea and that we had to be out of the cabin between 9am and 12pm. I was very tired and wanted to sleep in. The notice said that if we planned to be in the cabin to notify Guest Services. I could not get through to Guest Services. So I had to get up early. I was not happy about that.

At my first dinner seating I was given a ticket and then was totally ignored. I waited over 40 minutes without anyone approaching me.  When the person next to me ordered a drink I thought the server was going to take my order. He did not. He walked right past me. When the server brought the drink he walked righr past me again, I thought for sure he would ask me if I cared to order, he did not. He walked away in the opposute direction. I wound up having to call room service for dinner. I  complained to Guest Services (which took ten minutes to get through). I was given a credit for two drinks which I felt did not compensate for my experience.

The Room Service menu is very limited. The food at the buffets were cold and the seating is inadequate.

This was my first experience with Carnival Cruise Line and I do not feel encouraged to cruise with them again.

The dining room wait times were extraordinarily long. Just to place the order took far too long, then the wait for the food, the dessert order, wait for the dessert, etc.

Example. The couple sitting next to us ordering very similar food at the same time we ordered were served their entrees when we were eating our dessert. It seemed to be very disorganized with too few waiters. We could never make it to the show after our dinner, so we had to go to the show first (not our preference) before eating. Some of the Lido Deck food stations would shut down early despite dozens of people waiting to get their food. Most upsetting were the lack of clean tables. Many people were clearing a dirty table themselves just so they could sit and eat--piling more dirty dishes onto a neighboring table. Bus boys were very hard to find and had a huge area to clean--far too big for them to keep up.

The entertainment was very good, and the cruise director was great. The cabin stewardess was exceptional as well. The poor waiters were pleasant and trying, but it was a mess during the evening at the dining room.

The Steakhouse and especially the staff were awesome, well worth the additional expense.  The Chef's table was great.

The regular restaurant staff was indifferent and at times rude.  I wanted a window seat which they reserve for parties of 4 or what they call a shared table.  Instead of taking 2 minutes explaining that they said sure and then sat us near the dishs two tables from the window.  The next meal I asked to speak to a manager and he told me the details.  two minutes is all it would took, yet no one bothered to explain.

Also when boarding the ship and for the first day they offer "tours" of the ship - just pure sales.  A "tour" of the spa was a 30 minute sales presentation.  Why couldn't they do that in 10 minutes.  Stay away from all presentations - just a waste of time.

I think it was just ok. nothing special about the cruise or the ship. if you don't want to be around a lot of kids book when school is in. More options in the main dinning room that you don't have to pay for.

Punchliners comedy club was the best part about this cruise. Saint Johns is a cold sad place. Temperatures barely 65 in late june. Carnival  should have placed a ship with a solarium on this itinerary. Pools were  empty, hot tubs crowded and people  shivering. If you don't care about the destination it ok for a cheap get away.