Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

all aspects of the cruise were enjoyable.  had a great time from start to finish.  great cruise director and that probably made the trip even more fun.

My wife and I were assigned early dining room preference when booking this cruise but when we boarded we were given anytime dining. After talking with dining room staff we were told the dining preference couldn't be changed. We have cruised many times before and always enjoyed eating with the same group of people but instead were seated alone. We were disappointed that Carnival would not have told us this before. Also, there was no live music at the main shows. 

First time sailing with these friends and we all enjoyed ourselves. The tours were expensive so we did our own in port.  Dinner in the Italian restaurant the first night was wonderful.   The second night we went to Anytime dining and found it to be confusing but Mr. D our waiter and staff were wonderful.  But on the second night we went back to him and ou dinners were all wrong and we waited and extra hour for it to be corrected.   Some of the desserts weren't great and ice cream was always melted when it was served.  So we changed to Maya's table and she took very good care of us. Water slides were the best so far.  Entertainment was better than any other Carnical cruise we've been on

The cruise director, Matt, was engaging and funny.  We also very much enjoyed the evening entertainment, including the musical/dance galas, as well as the unique magic show.  The food was, overall, tasty and nicely presented by an attentive serve staff.

There were a few challenges, though.  The Liquid Lounge had so many obstructed views that it was difficult finding a good seat anywhere above the main floor.  The most annoying feature of the ship, however, was the pervasive sewer odor throughout some of the hallways and even inside some staterooms.  The crew attempted to alleviate it, but the smell persisted.

We got on the ship at Port Canaveral which was an ordeal in itself.  We made our way into our room and 2 people cannot get around at the same time.  It is so small.  We had a stateroom with a balcony.  Stateroom 6359.  We were on the Carnival Sunshine.  We unpacked to get ready to explore the ship.  The room is sufficient to store and hang clothes, plenty of room for that.  The bathroom was very small but ok.  Only one person at a time in there.  The food was horrible.  The passageways to get from one point to another can only hold one or two people so when you get behind older people, you have to slow down to a crawl.  Since I went on a cruise in January, the weather was a bit nasty and when we went into port in the Dominican Republic, we were really late so our excursion was 5 hours and we barely got back to the ship on time.  The same thing happened the next day in St. Thomas where we had another excursion and of course the same thing happened.  It was on time at San Juan where we got off the ship and wandered around that city which was great and  Grand Turk which is pretty but mostly all shopping and beach.  The sales people in all ports were very pushy and in your face.  Oh!  But the sales people on the ship were the same way, in your face!!  The service people were not even friendly on the ship except for the guy who cleaned our room daily.  The Onboard Activities were a laugh.  People who could not sing or dance, etc.  I could go on and on about this.  I got sick the last night we were on the ship and it was probably because everything is so clostrophobic and unclean.  If I were you, I would try another cruise other than Carnival.   

Carnival sunshine, the ship The embarkation process was acceptable. However the center elevators were sequestered for luggage handling and that caused a big mess as there was no communication to tell the passengers of this inconvenience.  As with most ships on embarkation, the ship was very tight, the passageways were narrow.  Communication was lacking and some passengers got a bit unruly.   The muster drill is a required activity, but it was absolutely ponderous. It took over one half hour while we were crowded on a small deck.   Nice way to be introduced to you ship mates.  Other cruise lines do this better.

We noticed there are virtually no trash cans on the boat save in your cabin and close to the coffee machines.

We had a balcony room and it was OK.  The interior was well laid out with a lot of storage areas.  Balconies take a beating from the salt air and ours was no exception.  The ensuite bath was laid out very well. It had a large shower, however when you sit on the toilet, one foot was in the shower.   The linens we're okay. The ship gives each room 2 deck towels and 1 bath robe.  I suppose a second robe could be requested.  The towels can be exchanged for fresh at one of two towel stations.   Carnival has a policy of not allowing passengers to reserve deck chairs similar to other cruise lines.  But many rude customers disregard this and the ship does little to enforce their policy which then simply encourages people to put a towel on a choice chair and go have lunch or whatever.  Sunshine was recently expanded to include a couple more decks forward that are reserved for adults – nice touch.  However, these outside decks are closed when the breeze picks up.

As with many cruise lines service in the main dining rooms, especially for breakfast and lunch, is slow.   At times it is very slow.  The food is good, but often has spent a long time in warming ovens.  The buffet is good, but fairly limited in selection.  Guy Fieri burgers (noon to 5:00PM) were very good - thin and crispy.  Fresh made breakfast burritos and lunch tacos were very popular as was the pizzeria.  They also had citrus fruits available every day.  I have not seen this on 4 previous RCL cruises.  Salads were always fresh.  The specialty dining rooms are very good.  The service is exceptional, but you do pay extra for this.  I think it was worth it.

Hand sanitation didn't seem to be as high a priority on sunshine as on other lines.  Hand sanitizer is available, but it was by no means mandatory.  

Odor control was poor.  Certainly the casino is a smoking area and the smoke drifted for a couple decks both up and down.   Kitchen odors were also present at all hours far from any restaurant.  Public bathrooms are numerous, but poorly advertised.   No signs, except on the door.

Entertainment options were not as good as on other ships.  The venues are small, so if you want to see a show, get there early.  The water slide was pretty neat.

Unlimited sodas and juices are available for some $7.00/day.  This is far better than the $20+/day on RCL.  Alcoholic beverages were about the same as elsewhere.  All of the above are available only from a bar, none of which opened until after 10:00 AM.  Most didn't open until 8 or 9 at night, so if can’t get a tomato juice in the morning.

Coffee was pretty good.  Each cup was brewed individually.  Hot chocolate is also available in the buffet.   Yum, yum.   And ice is available on deck - something unheard of on RCL.  Premium coffee was very good; a shot of espresso was $2.00.

And there are laundry facilities on board for those who didn’t pack enough or don’t want the extreme prices of having the ship do it for you.

All told, we were happy.  I would rate this ship as good, not great and about the same as the Freedom or Explorer class of RCL.

The itinerary:

Eight nights, 4 sea days, visiting Aruba, Bonaire and Grand Turk.  These are out of the way places which require lots of traveling, some 4000 miles.  The Dutch islands are quaint as were the locals.  I found nothing special about the islands, but it was a great way to see other spots in the world.  Grand Turk is one of the rare coral islands.  The highest point on the island may not be higher than the top deck, so you can see much of the island from the boat.  Great beaches and I’d guess the main commerce is tourism.

We will never choose to cruise with Carnival cruise line again. Way too loud, noisy, rowdy all the time!!!  Even the captain and cruise director had loud obnoxious voices. There is a big difference between being a "fun" ship and just being obnoxious. People act the way you project and tolerate their behavior. 

The southern Caribbean cruise offers four days at sea and three islands.The nightly entertainment, both music and comedy, was exceptional. The dining was sublime with great service. The only disappointment was the crowded pool and game area.Shopping was .  fun on the ship and islands. Getting to the ship went without a hitch, as well as departing. made sure every every  detail was covered to make for a smooth experience.

The embankment on Sunshine was a breeze. 

It took us less than 15 minutes from the time we dropped off our luggage until we entered our stateroom at 11:30 am.  Since we are platinum, we were able to go right to our room to drop off our carryon wine bottles, and soda.

We had to wait quite a while for an elevator to get from deck six where our room was, to deck 9 where the food was on first day.  Once we finally arrived at the marketplace, our smiles left us.  It was way over crowded and extremely warm there.  No where to sit, people scrambling for food, and a place to sit.  However, we were able to find a quiet cool place to eat in the Havana Bar where the Mongolian wok served up a delicious meal, or the pasta bar on the Italian side.  Apparently, since this was in back of ship, and actually not part of Marketplace, few people knew about it this the first day.  

The Havana Bar became our eating spot for breakfast and lunch the first 5 days.  By day 5 however, more people realized this little gem of a place  and it too became crowded.

The serenity deck to me was anything but serenity.  Too many people for such a small area.  The pool is not handicap friendly.  My husband can't climb so no way could he use a ladder to get out of the pool.  The upper deck over the pool did have comfortable chairs to sit when you could find one, but there were those inevitable chair hogs everyday.  We found the best place to sit quietly and relax was deck three.  However, very few chairs exist on that deck.  Carnival needs to realize, not everyone wants to Sun worship.  More up right chairs would be nice, on deck 3.  

The dive in movie is a nice feature to relax under the stars at night.  However, once again the lounge chairs are very uncomfortable to sit and watch a movie.  They need to have more straight back chairs with high backs to rest your head.  We foud serenity deck 12 to have the best chairs for watching the movie, but then we could hardly hear the.movie from there.  Good idea would be to place speakers on that deck to hear movie at night. In fact, we used serenity deck at night, because there were very few people there at night.  Made for true serenity.

The food was very good for most part.  Variety, and presentation was nice.  We had our time dining.  Did not like the idea of having to go to deck five ocean plaza, to put our name in. Then have to go to deck three to dining room.  It would have been nice to have a waiting area closer to dining room, especially when someone had walking issues, and has to wait for elevator each time we went to another deck.    We did enjoy listening to Bob, the guitar player in the Red Frog pub on deck 5.  This seemed to become our hang out place in evenings when we did not watch a movie.

The lounge is way to small to accommodate the amount of people on the ship.  I did not like having to stand in line at least 45 minutes to be able to get a seat for the shows.  My husband can not stand for long periods, so he had to miss out on most of the shows.  This ship as the pool is not handicapped friendly.  You definitely need a scooter to get around if you have walking issues.  But then be prepared for long elevator waits.  

The Line light where comedy shows were held was also too small.  Once again had to stand in line at least 45 min ahead to get in.  We only went once because of this.  The piano bar was fun, but chairs too uncomfortable to sit.  We only went there one as well.

Guys burgers was a nice alternative.  However, it was never opened when we wanted a burger.  Other ships had burgers available late at night.  Sunshine had hot dogs and trimmings available late, but not Guys burgers.

Overall, I think Carnival has tried to make a smaller ship appear bigger with all the venues.  However, because the ship is smaller, all the venues are smaller.  The only thing that isn't smaller are the number of CRUISERS.  Bottom line, this is not a ship I would cruise on again.

We picked this cruise base on the destination, we've been to all other islands, so we wanted to see different islands. The islands are Aruba, Boanire and Grand Turk. 3 islands 3 shore days, and the rest of them are all at sea. Now I took it I felt it was too much time at sea. It would've been nicer if the first day at sea then second day we could get to one island. The ship didn't get to dock at Aruba till the third day in the afternoon at 2pm, We took a snorkeling tour came back at 7pm and the town was already shun down, no where to find food and shops. It was a disappointment. The first day and last day at sea it was so cold and windy, impossible to enjoy any outdoor activities. And there weren't much to see on TV.

Evening dinning was so great! Food was amazing. I have food allergies, so the first day our waiter found out and he made extra effort to make sure they prepare my food separately, each evening when I finished my meal, he would give me the menu for the next day so I got to pre-order my meal for the next day. It was so great! I would show up and they already have instructions print out, they knew exactly what to do. I really enjoyed the services he provided for us.

Breakfast selections were so great! Probably the best meal of all day.

Lunch I only went to the dinning room once and it was so good.

Dinner was always good! We didn't have a single bad meals.

I really loved the photo services on the ship. Everyday they have photographers take our photos, they thought of everything. There were 2 nights called fancy/dress up nights. While we were already all doll up, they have different back grounds set up for you to take your photos. It'll show up the next day in the photo galley session on deck 4 ( I think) You can go look and pick the ones you want to buy. Price is a little expensive, 8x10s are $21.95 each, even I was asking them If I picked few 8x10s then pick few 5x7s, they told me it would still be the same price. They do a good job though.

Lastly I wasn't too thrilled with the last day breakfast. The entire time we have enjoyed breakfast everyday, it had so much variety to choose from. But the last day it just had basic breakfast food, toast, eggs.....and it wasn't even good. No fruits, no yogurt.....I do understand they want us to get out of the ship as soon as possible so they can clean up and welcome the next round of customers. But at the same time made me feel like the trip is done so get out!! We no longer value to them anymore. Well, there  you are, I spit it all out. Maybe it just me, but I think there were a number of people I talked to on the way to pick up my car felt the same way.

Overall, it was a great experience, if you have been to those islands before I wouldn't recommend this cruise ship. And if you haven't, see if there's another cruise goes less at sea time for just those 3 islands. If not, then this will be fine. 

We really enjoyed our cruise on the Sunshine. The food was delicious, the shows and comedy club were fantastic and our porter Angel was the best !! I highly recommend this cruise ! 

We booked a spa balcony on deck 10.  For starters our balcony was not covered.  All of the other balconies had a roof except our deck.  We complained and were told that a roof was not guaranteed yet it doesn't state this on the web site.  We could only use the balcony 25 percent of the time because the wind and rain would drench the balcony.  Whereas our friends on deck 11 who were covered could use theirs.  The boat smells like smoke everywhere around deck 4-6.  The Casino has poor ventilation and the smoke goes into the atrium.  It made me sick.  Also the layout is odd where you have to walk thru the casino to get to the bars and coffee stand.  The staff was amazing and the cruise director was nice.  The entertainment was excellent.  The room was clean and overall the ports were great.  Inwould reccomend taking this itinerary on the magic not the sunshine in the future.

My 16th Carnival cruise and as usual most was a wonderful experience. However, the dinning experience on two levels disappointed me. One, by asking for a early dine time I was assigned to "your dine time", a real bummer. We had to wait in line each evening, assigned a different table for two and missed the opportunity to bond with other cruisers. As well, the menus required an up charge to get the quality meal that used to be included. I then choose to dine in the specialty restaurants or buffet. JiJis, the Aisan selection was one of the best restaurant experiences I have ever had while the Italian choice, Capitanos, was superior as well. The steak house, Farenheight 555 was a different story. I was proffered a steak selection, each 2" thick and received a 3/4" that could not compare to a $7.95 Waffle House special for a $35 up charge!

The majority of the staff was very helpful and friendly.  Our room was clean and well kept.  We did notice wet carpets in the hall on deck 8(odd).  There was a raw sewage smell on deck 4.

This being our 2nd cruise, we were disappointed to find ourselves overlooked in several activities because we were not "platinum" or "gold".  The lido deck and above could not accommodate everyone that wished to relax on most days.  San Jose was very commercialized and grand Turks was way to small for everyone.  

My wife  became very ill after disembark net with vomiting, stomach cramps, and headache.  She is still experiencing issues and we can't help but feel she picked up something on board.

Overall I would give the cruise a good rating.  The staff was excellent and the food was good.  The entertainment was also good.  I did not like the layout of the ship.  The public venues were too small and the smoke filled casino was located where you almost had to walk through it to get from one end of the ship to the other.  Sunshine was the least favorite of the Carnival ships on which we have traveled. 

Great Ports, great food and food service, really great comedy (especially Diane Ford), and great shows.

We had some problems with the room, they moved us to a lesser priced room for

which we were unhappy about but they finally gave us some credit on our account for it after 4 days of complaining. Meanwhile our first shore tour was cancelled and they said they notified us with a note under our old cabin door(we had steward open it..no note!)...ever try to get back on a ship when 2000 plus people are trying to get off? The subsequent tours were great, the 10% discount on a rebooked tour for our inconvenience was a joke.

Luckily our Anniversary was on the 6th day and by then we were really enjoying everything.

Overall, the cruise was great!  However, our extended balcony stateroom was directly below the Havana Bar.  We had to listen to loud music, people dancing and sliding chairs/tables until 2:30 AM almost every night.  Before booking your room, ask about the location for noise comfort level.

it rained everyday of our cruise except for one day. the service was great and the workers even remembered  our name after learning it one time. we didn't go to one port and had another day at sea due to our weather. we had one day of sunshine. we felt the cruise line should have given us longer time on the port on the sunny day or something extra due to the weather and having more days at sea. the ship most likely made more money because we didn't get off the boat and had nothing else to do but spend money. they also didn't need to use the gas to drive us to the farthest port that day due to the weather. 

Rooms were great. Food was good. Unfortunately we had bad weather. Without day trips and ability to use the pools, it was rather boring and very crowed on the ship. This is usually never an issue since I am either on excursion or in the pool. The buffet meals were crowed and difficult to find a table. The hot tubs were very popular, but dominated by kids, little kids, with food and drink in the pools. I think there could have been some supervision or regulations on this. Loved having the miniature golf and climbing rope adventures.

Bad weather conditions made for a bad vacation. Rain 4 out of the 5 days. Rough seas most of the time. Day at Half Moon Kay cancelled meant too much time on board.