Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Over the last few years the cruise experience has changed on ALL lines, almost as if following in the misguided airlines changes ( from consumer experience) in that not everything is "inclusive" anymore.  Once upon a time you could pay for your cruise and everything food related was included. Not anymore...gone are the wonderful Midnight Buffets replaced with "Late Night Snacks"  ( hot dogs, brownies, and chili con carne). The little things like $5.95 daily drink specials, souvenir glass, and chocolates on your pillow at turn down, are also gone. Makes one wonder when the cruise lines will start charging for bags. 

There is still plenty of fun to be had though and our Cruise Director Jamie Dee was phenomenal as were the cast of the shows. The entertainment still rocks it thankfully.

The casino was a lot "drier" experience in several ways this time, gone were the many hourly games and drawings replaced with  A daily slot tournament and nightly drawing for one cash winner. They did give away a cruise for 2 on the last night and that was exciting.

Drinks are pricey - do the beverage packages. The internet - if you need it is improved and quite reasonable. 

Embarkation and debarkation of the ship has improved dramatically. The food was much better on this cruise than when we sailed the ship as the destiny. The cabin stewards and crew were awesome. Still don't like the new pay for steak, lobster, or sushi set up...I feel that should always be included in the special meals or special cart for limited time as before.

The ports of call were all good, our excursions were great, especially the zipline in Mahogany Bay, ROATAN.  I love Carnival as a cruise line...they are not laid back and a lot of fun...still recommend them. Hopefully feedback will correct some of their obvious cost saving changes..I'd rather have less discount and more experience. 

The cruise was very loud , you allways felt like you where yelling just to talk to your family. They incinerate the garbage ,which caused the smoke and fumes  into my room causing me to have an Asthma attack. I talk to guest services and got no reply or concern.The staff where all very nice untill the last day , it seemed like once they recieved their gratuities they didnt care.Cold coffee bad service in the Sunrise Resturant Last day. This was my husband first cruise and probably  last cruise.  

Staff were not very friendly. There were a few exceptions. Meals were good but service was very slow. Room was adequate but cramped for balcony. Dining Room decor seemed very outdated compared to the rest of the ship. Casino and bar staff were rude. Entertainment was good. Pool was very small for the number of passengers. Lengthy line to go ashore wasted time available at each port.

Too many kids on cruise.  Some teens were running thru the decks & swearing, knocking on doors & just being very loud & beligerent.  Children at pool on lido deck were not being supervised by parents!!!!Have had many great experiences with Carnival, but this was not one of them.  The ports were great!!!!

The Carnival Sunshine Crew exceeded my expectations.  The staff was friendly and courteous and made every effort to ensure we had what we needed and were comfortable.

As we experience on prior Carnival Cruises the food was plentiful and available round the clock.  We really appreciate the cleanliness of the ship.

On the other hand the ship is not as attractive as some of the others in the Carnival fleet but still very appealing.   

Special thanks to the Team at the Omelet and Pizza stations!!!  Our dining room staff was fantastic even though they messed up our orders a couple of times, nonetheless they quickly made up for it.

Thanks again!!!

I enjoyed the ports, food and Camp Carnival in which my children attended.  The service as usual was great.  The only complaint I have is the layout of the ship and some of the cabin sizes. 

The cruise was tough for a handicapped person. Getting on and off the ship

was a nightmare. Trying to access the decks was a challenge. The ramps

are not friendly for scooters or wheelchairs. Also trying to take an elevator

involved a lot of waiting and patience. We had ordered an onboard welcome gift,

a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.. The champagne was hot and exploded when opened. We didn't receive another bottle until the day before the end of the cruise. I would not reccomend this cruise line to my friends or other handicapped persons.

I really enjoyed this  carnival cruise ship.  It was modernized.  The food was really good.  Everyone was polite and friendly.  There was sooo much to do.  Activities were fun.  All around good time.  Very clean which is a huge plus.  So many things for teenagers to do as well.  My son loved it and was always busy. The cruise director was so friendly. Wait staff was very entertaining.  I went on another carnival and there was not as much to do and not as modern.  The Sunshine definitely was wonderful.  There was a giant chess game to play.  Ping Pong, Basketball, two giant slides, a walking tight rope and so much for entertainment.  Daily entertainment and multiple comedy shows as well were always enjoyable.  Really had a great time.  Food was Filet mignon one day..Maine lobster, Pork Chops, Salmon and so much more...these are items that I got.  Can't really say there were any complaints at all.

Overall we enjoyed this Cruise. The food was great, the weather was great, I thought the entertainment was just ok. The ports on this cruise were absolutely beautiful and Definitely Worth seeing. The ship itself seemed very clean and the staff were all very friendly. We did experience some issues with our shore excursions. The 2 we selected both were cut short. 1 left an hour late from the port due to poor organization, which caused us not having the amount of time we were supposed to get. The 2nd was cut short about and hour to hour and half. It wAs very disappointing because they cost so much to do and theN did not last as long as they were told to. Also, there were not enough lounge chairs/deck room for all guest when on the sea days. It was awful. You couldnot get around chairs in some areas and a lot of people could not even find chairs periid.

Overall we loved the cruise.  We read some reviews prior to selecting this ship and all of the ones we read were right on target to what we found.  The food and entertainment was great.  The ship had a lot of motion.  If you get sick easily, I recommend Dramamine the night before departure.  The adult only section was wonderful.  The chairs with cushions were very comfortable.  The only issue is with 3000 people on board not that many people get one.  You had to get there early or they were all gone.  I wish they had placed time limits on them because some people stayed from daylight to dark in them.  We were able to enjoy them some so it wasn't a complete loss.  The ship seems to cater more to the younger crowd which is fine.  We like kids and knew that going into it.  However, we did stay on the upper levels for adults only most of the time.  The staff was excellent.  I found that they pushed the alcohol.  We are not drinkers so we just overlooked that part.  It was a vacation of a life time!!!! Loved every minute of it!  Vacation is what you make it. 

Overall the ship is great!  I really appreciated the 3 floors of adult only serenity.  However the cruise ship was apparently having a staffing problem for this particular sailing because they were very understaffed.  They were slow in the service area.  They also did not have their normal activities because they were missing 4 of their activities directors.  The food was good but as I said 5 of the 8 nights we waited more than 1 hour for our dinner.  So you will definetly need patients.  The final debarking process was an absolute nightmare.  They were very unorganized and noone seemed to know what to do.  It took us 4 hours to get off the ship.  That was really unacceptable.  Overall we made the trip fun but the staff wasn't that great.  

No shows, only comics. Room was supposed to have couch.  His sharpes container never showed, nor my distilled water. Good thing I took some with me. disembarking was terrible, supposed to start  at 8 am. Didn't start calling till after 10 :30. Food was good. Room was clean. Ports had nothing but shopping, & water sports. Our  other cuise with Carnival was a lot better than this one. They had shows at nite, maybe a lot of them were  employees, but they were entertaining.

if u dressed up ,u had someplace to go besides dinner     

m.

We enjoyed the cruise even though it was very windy most of the week. It was too windy to spend much time on our balcony or even enjoy sitting by the pool.  It was so windy we couldn't dock in Aruba which was the reason we booked this cruise.  Enjoyed the beach at Grand Turk very much.  I usually find the staff on a Carnival cruise to be happier than other lines, but not so this ship.  Maybe it was the wind or the missed day off in Aruba, but I didn't see joy on many faces.  Take care of your staff, Carnival, and please be the first cruise line to add nickname to the boarding card.  I know you need to put my real name on the card for homeland security, but what is stopping you from adding a nickname line so that your staff doesn't call us by a name we never use. It is a bit offensive.  Loved our travel agent, but was disappointed there was no welcome gift. The agency we used in the past always had a bottle of wine or champagne sent to our room.  Good cruise though.

Our cabin was over the Liquid Lounge and the whole room vibrated!!!  Had to ask to change our room.  There was no seating in the room only the beds which were uncomfortable to sit on and watch the tv.  Our dining room experience was odd.  We were put in a long narrow alley.  Our dining companions told us to ask for a different table.  We did and were seated with a wonderful, fun couple.  The other people also got seated at a different table.  The rest of the trip the long room remained empty!!  The staff was wonderful, especially the wait staff.  The ship was extremely clean.  I was very pleased with the cleanliness. 

As a gold member, I expected to be upgraded as promised, but alas, it did not happen.  Perhaps, if I travel with Carnival again, they will go through with the promise to upgrade me.

The shore excursions were great.  They were very easy to find the tour guides on the pier and they were very informative about the area. 

Carnival might consider varying their menu by ship. For people that cruise frequently, it is not difficult to guess what will be offered. Same with the songs sung by the wait staff. We found the service in the "your time" dining to be very slow. Water was extremely slow being refilled. Actually, we were quite disappointed. To us, our room was stuffy. We mentioned this to our cabin steward and he had someone check, but it did not help. Embarkation was wonderful. A great perk for our loyalty level. Plus the convenience of getting into our cabin. Dining on the Lido deck seemed so chaotic. Two sides converged at one end trying to get bacon. The bacon really needs to be cooked. So many pieces seemed to have barely seen heat. Then people were standing, picking through the pieces trying to find well cooked pieces.

oceanview room was spacious and king bed was great.  big shower and plenty of closet & drawers.  food was very good, (lobster nite, prime rib, steaks, steak & egg breakfast etc in dining room).  dance and singing shows were good, piano bar sing along was great and comics were okay.  had to get in line early to get a seat at some shows.  buffet food and special lunch food (italian/stir fry) were good and taco/burgers also.  would have liked more ship activity for days at sea.  more 50+ passengers than expected on carnival.  few children and they had activities/area separate so noise was not bad.  8 day cruise may have made a difference here...  casino games all seem to have gimmics and are not standard vegas style except crap table.  drink package cost $920 per couple and is not worth it.  all drinks are very costly.  $5 beer is cheapest and a shame when you can get a beer off boat for $1.  they need a modified drink package that you can enjoy.  excursions are very expensive and minimal assistance for island info except to take a excursion.  cruise price is cheap but they get you big time for drinks and excursions.  overall, not bad.

My wife and I enjoyed the Sunshine cruise very much.  The cabin, an interior, was very quiet, and have plenty of storage for our clothes.  There was more of a variety of food than we've seen on other smaller ships, although we did miss having a fish and chips station.  We ate at both the Italian and Asian kitchens and thoroughly enjoyed them both.  The destination ports were fine and we've made a mental note to go back to San Juan, which was beautiful.  The only major complaint we had was that TV was very inconsistent, with major networks showing up some days and not coming through on other days.  We are talking about a ship that was totally redone in 2013, and they can't get a signal from a satellite?  It appeared that channels were only shown on nights with minor entertainment, for example the Oscars were shown, but the next night that channel was gone. Hmmmmmm.......but will return for another cruise on this ship.

cabins were smaller then other ships (we had a suite) -our bathroom had a toilet that angled towards the tub making it uncomfortable to use - your knees hit the tub - tv programing was bad - guys hamburgers were bad - pool was too small for all the people, very hard to get a chair to sunbathe - you need more then one popcorn machine for the movies - your timing for the shows was bad , if you went to the main show you couldn't get to the comedy club in time to get a seat - the cabin stewards were great and so was room service - one of the servers at the chocolate spot was very rude to guest, if she didn't like people she shouldn't be there - our dining room staff were great and kept us laughing even when the ship kept rocking - we needed more time in Aruba maybe a overnight stay

Carnival should simply retire this ship.  The layout is difficult to maneuver and the décor is outmoded.  The ship does not accommodate all of the adult guest on board; the back half of the ship is a waterpark that only a handful of kids used.  The walking track is nested above the “smokers lounge”.  While walking/running the track, you get to enjoy second hand cigarette and cigar smoke.  Additionally, the smoking section is prime real estate for lounging and sunning.  If you want to sunbath outside of the smokers lounge, you have to circle the decks like a vulture looking for a meal.

Carnival’s prices on the Sunshine were well below that of their competition, which attracted a very unique clientele for our sailing.  Between all the rockabilly music and the forced fun activities like the electric slide, the cha-cha and the wobble, it was like an 8 day “hee haw” booze cruise.  I believe the Ship only has a handful of songs that are on constant repeat.  Trying to move through the ship’s narrow corridors coupled with the vast amounts of wheel chairs and scooters, it was a daily frustration.

Trying to get off the ship at the ports was also a joke – it took almost 2 hours navigating the bottleneck caused by the mass exodus of 3,000 people moving to the gangway.  Once there, your feel like you’re being attacked by the paparazzi for photo by the Carnival photographers.  Carnival should allow the guest with excursions to get off the ship first.  I believe this is a ploy to get you to buy excursions only through Carnival.  If you purchased excursion through a third party and you miss your departure time because you can’t get off the ship, you’re out of luck.

The only redeeming quality of this cruise was that the service was very good.  Our cabin steward and head waiter were both a delight.  Overall, I was disappointed with the experience and would not recommend this cruise - a prime example of “you get what you pay for!”

The happiest cresw I have seen in awhile. As always the ship was very clean. The food was even up a notch from the last cruise I was on. Even the weather was great. And Carnival did a great new layout of the ship. And of course John Gano from Cruises Only was a great help.