Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

A real party on the water. Staff surpassed our expectations, truly a remembered vacation in Bahamas.

Plenty of stage shows, comedy shows, and entertainment on board. Carnival excursions were great and well planned. The only expense we really didn't use was the bubbles beverage service, $69 for couple. At dinner each evening we were invited by name by Wally our dinner server, and beds were turned down and little towel critters on the bed by our steward Fauzi. The staff on this cruise always smiling and seemed to love to serve others at any time of the day or night.   

 I don't know if my expectations were too high or what I was expecting as this was only my second cruise.  The boat to me was nice I enjoyed the adults only area on the upper deck.  The waterslides on the boat were cool concept  The kids really love this area.   The entertainment was not what I was expecting there was a couple of shows  but not a wide variety of choices.  I did like the comedy shows .  As far as the food and service  most of the time we had to get her own drinks while laying out on the deck  there were never enough servers to accommodate the crowd.  The bartenders on the deck  we're not very nice or eager to help.  The deck bars with close in the afternoons at 5 o'clock.  The two times we ate in the formal dining room  The service was very slow not friendly  and the food was  terrible . And as far as the buffets the meats and fish seem to be the same every day  there was never a good variety in my opinion. The best  part of the food to me was the guy Fery burger joint they were great!  There were other options to eat on the boat but those restaurants were an extra charge everyone in my group said they had never heard of that before ... All in all I had a good  time but I will never  Cruise on the Carnival sunshine again....

Sunshine is a very nice ship after it was refurbished from the Destiny (was on it before it was done).  The Havana Bar, the Red Frog Pub/beer, Guys Burgers, and the Blue Iguana bar are a very nice addition to the Carnival family.  The Punchliner comedy club is nice but the design is stupid (which you already know).  At the Punchliner I saw to many people not standing in line and sneaking in both of the backdoors after we were coming in--this needs to change.

Went during Easter break (Spring break) and there were approximately 1100 kids on board.  Way to many kids on the ship and to many parents not controlling them.  Ship staff could not control this and did a very poor job in trying to prevent this or intervene (Security).  I saw Security standing around (in groups of 2-3) to much in one place doing nothing.  Incidents would happen in front of them and they did nothing and when I said something they would just look at us strange.   Security needs to be trained and education on how do deal with these issues and make the parents responsible for their children so these issues do not happen in future sailings.

Fun vacation. Curacao was beautiful.  Ship was ok, service was slow, boat was older. Not enough activities for older kids. Food was good.  Did not like the fact that with the  Cheers package everyone one in your room over 21 had to purchase whether they drank or not!!!!!

Most of the cruise was fun.  Food was good, ship was clean and almost all of the workers were friendly.  The water was cold in the pools and at the ports.  i received a complimentary cruise for the next time because I blew so much money in the casino.  I was a little surprised the players club invite had so many black out dates...we won't be able to use it!

This was a fun cruise.  My husband and I like the sea days so and 8 day cruise with 5 at sea was perfect for us.  The ports were okay. We are not beach people so these ports weren't particularly interesting to us .  This was our second time in Aruba.  It is basically flat desert with a nice beach.  There is only shade from palm trees and other small trees so I personally wouldn't spend a lot of time there.  Curacao is is a sister island but has more foliage and hills.  Grand Turk also doesn't have a whole lot except a nice beach.

The Sunshine is an old ship even though it has been upgraded.  We were on it when it was the Destiny and after 16 cruises on Carnival the Destiny is still my least favor ship.  The Sunshine is nicer but the rooms are smaller than the newer ships.  We had a balcony room and the bed was right up against the window wall with no side tables.  This was a problem because my husband and i both use c-paps and there was no place to put them.  Mine was on the floor and I literally had to stand on my head to turn it on and off and fill the water compartment.  The couch was right up to the bed on the other side. The aisles in the restaurants on the Lido Deck were very narrow causing traffic jams.  

Now for the good stuff!  The crew was great and there were things going on at all times.  The dancers were constantly interacting with the passengers and there was lots of dancing and parties on the Lido Deck. All in all, this was a great cruise and we'll be doing it again.

This is a great itinerary to Aruba, grand Turk and Curaçao!

The staff is great!  Love the amenities on board like the coffee shop, water slides and ropes course.  Second time using dine your time and really enjoying it now that we got the hang of it!  A fun time for us and our teenagers!!  (And Chris F at is terrific to deal with and very helpful with port of call tips!!!)

Great Cruise!   Lots of Spring Breakers on board!!!  would recommend a larger ship if you plan to sail on Spring Break.  3700 on board this ship - there was no place to hide to get away from crowds.  Overall crew was super nice however I felt like there was not enough help on ship.   Drinks were not served timely and dinner seemed like it took forever.  I'm not complaining as I love the Caribbean and cruising with Carnival.  I'll just select a different ship going forward.

Family of 4 (16,9 daughters).  Get what you pay for and less!  

-Small club with few counselors.

-Faster to the Fun (not worth it, still chaos)

-Poor food

-Limited things for family's to do

-forced to walk through casino (smokey)

-many pics done in smokey areas

-poor service at all BARS

-bubbles program is a rip off as your child will not get served at the bars where they have to get their drinks.

-We did have a great stateroom host

-save a little more money and do a different cruise line if you have kids

-if you want to drink and gamble, this is the cruise for you

The ship itself was very nice and the ports of call Aruba, Curacao, & Grand Turk were fun.  Our favorite was Curacao, with the oldest continuous synagogue and the curacao liquor factory (We liked the new Tamarind flavor the best.). 

There were a lot of changes since I had sailed last 2 years ago.  The buffet was closed from 2:30 to 5:30 and if you wanted anything to eat you had to wait or eat at Guys Burgers (which we did not care for) or pizza.  We had hoped for a salad and or fruit, something light.  Sometimes the Deli was also open.  We also did not like that they no longer served Bailey's Irish Cream, but some other terribly sweet off brand.  The drink package you can by for the whole cruise includes not only alcohol drinks, but specialty coffees & teas, as well as bottled water, but not the water bottled water in your cabin or bottles of wine.  The comedians were all very funny and the shows nice.  we also enjoyed having high tea on one of the sea days.

Overall we had a great time on this cruise.  Being my first cruise in over 20 years I forgot what it was like.  There are a few areas that I would like to see improved--some may be possible and others not.

The ship was late on allowing us to board and when we did it was a bit chaotic.  Not sure if this is how it always is.  Everyone must have had the same idea and went right for the buffet.  Service was very slow and lines were very long.  They had two people working the pizza area and they were only cooking 5 or 6 pizzas at a time.  A bit ridiculous.

The room was EXTREMELY small.  I know we had an inside cabin, but a friend I was traveling with said usually the beds come out of the ceiling and helps with space in the room.  We walked in to two single beds and one on the floor.  It was very cramped and I was claustrophobic.  I wish I would have been made aware of the layout of the room and I wouldn't have taken that one. 

There were a lot of activities for the kids, but my biggest grip would be that there was only one basketball hoop.  My son, who is 10, loves to play basketball and attempted daily to get in on a game, but was unsuccessful because of the older kids and dads that were playing.  Occasionally someone was nice to him and gave him the ball.  It would be great to have a court for kids 12 and under and one for 13 and above.  Not sure possible with the space constraints. 

At times it was very difficult to get a drink at the bar.  The bartenders were a bit slow.

The boat was extremely rocky and not sure if it was because we were in the ocean, the weather or the boat doesn't have good stabilizers?

Now for the good stuff.  Our room attendant--Ariel was great.  He knew our names after meeting him one time and was always so nice.  One of the bar runners (not sure what they are called) Henry (maybe from Peru) was awesome and always so attentive to us.  Our wait staff Cornelius and  his helper (not sure of her name but it started with a  W and I believe she was from Indonesia) were awesome--so kind and friendly and remembered what we liked.  It's amazing to think that they meet so many people every week and they remember everything about you.

The entertainment was good, but I have heard from other people who traveled on different lines that there are many more people in the acts than the 7 we had.  Donkey, the cruise director, and his team were very nice and fun and got people involved.  The DJs were very nice to my kids and allowed them to hang out by the DJ stand near the pool and dance.

I love cruising with Carnival but I will have to say that this ship doesn't have enough outside space for all the passengers on board.  The at Sea days were very crowded on deck and in the Serenity area.  Great destinations, easy to get on and off the ship at these ports.

The 8 day cruise was everything and more. "Donkey" the entertainment director was exceptional. He created an environment which is inviting and provides a purpose to be involved. The comedy shows and the karaoke where incredibly entertaining.

The only request is that there needs to be firm rules on reserving lounge chairs. We were only able to use the deck twice due to patrons putting their towels on chairs early in the morning and not using them until later in the day. 

This was our first cruise and I would go on another. Yes there was a lot of people but if you want to get out of the crowds you can always find a place on the ship that  wasn't  so crowded. The cabin was clean, the staff was extremely nice and friendly and would get you anything you needed. Overall we had a great time.

We had a great time. It started with the check in, which went very fast and smooth. Our cabin was ready when we boarded, and lunch at Guy's Burgers was great. At dinner we met our dinning room staff and they were very friendly and efficient. Our cabin crew was great, always having our room clean and ready for us.  Food was excellent, both in the dinning room and at the other food venues. We really enjoyed the entertainment, and the ports that we visited.

I really enjoyed the Carnival Sunshine.  The only reason I didn't rate it a 5 star was because I bought the drink package and every time I would go to get a drink at the bar it would take about 30 minutes to get it.  The bars stayed very busy and had low staffing.  You definitely could tell the bartenders they had aboard were very wore out and very rarely smiled.  I would also recommend to pack as much as possible in a carry on back because we didn't receive our luggage until about 45 minutes before our dinner reservation.  Other than the poor bar service and luggage being delivered to our room late I would definitely recommend taking this cruise. Oh, and also if you want a seat by the pool you have to go out by 7-8 a.m. to get it because come 9 a.m. you're lucky if you can find one the rest of the day... and some people saved about 10 for friends that I never even saw show up so it was pretty aggravating.   Guy Burgers was the best daytime meal and the servers in the restaurant at night were very good and always made sure we were happy.  There was always something to do Bingo being one of my favorite and we went to watch both comedians and they couldn't have made me laugh any harder. Definitely well worth the money and  I can't wait to plan another. 

The ship's  crew were nice and donkey was very entertaining.  We enjoyed the time on the boat as well the time on the islands.  Half moon cay was our favorite.  We will do some excursions our next vacation with carnival. It was my fiancee first time and she was trilled to death. Hated that it was over.

This was my first cruise and carnival you might have made it my last! Absolutely the worst service I could have ever dreamed of. A complete horrible vacation, for the time and money. I have never been this disappointed in anything. Everybody talks about how cruises are the best deal for the money, I wish you could have been with me this past week. Maybe its just Carnival cruises I dont know, but I will let everyone know including the companies like Coke and Hasbro and any others I can talk to know how bad the service was on this ship. 

After sailing on other Carnival Cruise Ships, the "refurbished" Sunshine was a total disappointment.  First, the delay in boarding the ship because of a Gastrointestinal outbreak and extra cleaning needed was understandable, but the uncomfortable conditions in the long lines required a lot of standing!  The service, other than our Room Steward and a couple of servers, was very poor and the attitude of the waiters was subpar, to say the least. One in our party has been sick every since we got back. I question the fact that we were not updated as to any additional problems on our cruise.  We should have been kept informed and updated on a regular basis as to what areas to avoid!

The room was in a terrible location constant noise from engines. The room had no cooler for cold drinks. No toilet articles just soap.

The free dining was not good, had to go to a different deck to check in than the restaurant. Other than that everything else was very good.