Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is our 5th or 6th cruise but 1st with a group and we had a Blast!! We really Loved Bimini it’s a new port The water there is amazing we snorkeled around a shipwreck and saw so many beautiful fish a sting ray and a sea turtle ♥️🐢

Good 5 day cruise for the price. It’s great to be cruising again😀

Despite my wife and I both being vaccinated and boosted, we aren't allowed to disembark the boat because our 4 year old daughter can't legally get vaccinated yet. Nevermind the fact she had to pass two COVID tests before getting on the boat -- one of which Carnival charged us $150 for. Before the trip we talked to a Carnival agent who told us we would just need an exemption for my daughter but never mentioned the fact we couldn't get off the ship even with the exemption. We also never got the exemption letter itself. We read the paper we signed for her and it is vague by design -- no where does it mention age or the exemption is just to ride the boat itself. We shouldn't have to ask clarifiying questions for enjoying a $1k+ trip. We feel Carnival pulled one over us and was intentionally unclear to get our money -- we won't be coming back.

I was very disappointed on arriving to our room and not being able to surprise my wife with the room being setup for our honeymoon. I did had a great time eating dinner, swimming, shopping, casino and visiting the two different islands we docked up at. I am also upset about some charges appearing on my card that shouldn't be there and I am discussing that with carnival cruise line and will let you know what happens.

Typical experience, not great weather but it is January so that can be expected this time of hurst when sailing in the Bahamas. You really need to get further South to ensure warm weather in Jan and Feb. The ship just return to service so it needs some fixing up but still a good ship and perfect size.

This review is for our booking on Carnival Cruise Line Voyage from Charleston SC on 17 January 2022 to 27 January 2022. My wife and I are both 65 years old. This is our 9th cruise (All on Carnival). After 2 years of the worldwide pandemic and 3 cancelled cruises we were ready to get on a ship and travel again. The beginning of this cruise was very stressful due to the CDC and Carnival rules for embarkation. A negative covid test was required up to 48 hours before sailing. This particular cruise (Due to being 10 days) Carnival was requiring a negative covid test at the port just prior to embarkation. We traveled by car from Virginia to Charleston. Due to a poor weather forecast we thought it best to leave 2 days early and stay in South Carolina. Our scheduled arrival time was 12:30 to 1:00 and we pulled into the parking lot at 12:15. We were directed to the luggage drop off where we declined due to the uncertainty of our luggage going on the cruise without us should either of us test positive. We were then placed in a wait line for testing. About 15 minutes later we were tested by friendly and efficient medical personnel and told to park and wait 15 to 20 minutes for results on the phone app. 40 minutes later both my wife and I received negative results. Great we are walking with our luggage to processing. They checked our test results and we entered screening. At screening they checked our test results again, our 2 day old covid test results, covid vaccination cards, boarding passes and identification papers. All good onto the transport bus to the terminal. We were informed that our state room was changed from 3102 to 6148 and that was a complementary upgrade. I asked if that was a handicap room like 3102 and assured it was. We said thank you and onto the ship we went. We were greeted with a big smiles and welcome aboard wishes. We then went to state room 6148 to find it was not an upgrade and not even a handicap. The 7” lip into the bathroom would be impossible for my wife so I headed off to guest services. 30 minutes in line at guest services and it was finally my turn. They told me they would work on a new room. 2 hours later and still no word back. During this time Manuel (Steward) tried to make our situation better. I telephoned guest services and they said they were still working on it. Another hour and I had to call back again. Finally I got help from Laura from Romania. She came up and helped us with our luggage to our new room 8305. This was an acceptable room as it was ADA. Sea Day #1 Showtime Studio VIP show was excellent! It was so good we went back for the late show and watched it again. Sea Day #2 Guest services called an apologized for the room situation from embarkation and offered us a complimentary dinner at Cucia Del Capitano. We accepted and it was a good dinner that included a bottle of wine. The service and atmosphere was outstanding but the food was less than we expected. We attended the comedy show (Paul Lyons was excellent). We also attended a cooking show with Chef Sydney D’enth. The show was fantastic with a four course sample lunch. Very impressive! Port Day: Tortola. A first time ever port for us.. It was extremely clean and safe for tourists. Everyone was very friendly. Port Day: St. Maarten: Another very nice port, first time, that was both safe and friendly. We had booked a Carnival excursion for the handicapped bus tour. It was informative and fun. We had Ed as a bus diver/guide and he was nothing short of perfect. Back on board we attended the comedy magic show by Mark Allen and that was another excellent time. Port Day: Antigua: First time port for us. We were able to get a passport stamp from their customs officer. We found the people to be very pushy and slightly rude if you did not buy from them. We did find one shop keep lady that was very accommodating and friendly. Each port my wife buys a post card and stamps to mail home. This lady sold us postage and would take the card to the post office and mail it for us the next day. Port Day: St. Thomas: This was our second time for St. Thomas and we stayed in the port area. Everyone was very friendly and we felt safe. We took up the Pirate Museum and had a wonderful time. They offered us a military discount (2 tickets $20, down from $32) and thanked me for my service as a Marine. The museum is excellent, especially the recovered items from the SS Republic in 1863. Port Day: Amber Cove: First time for us at this port and we had such a good time we will look for this as a stop on future bookings. The port area is beautiful and includes a fantastic lazy river style pool. There were plenty of beach chairs and ample opportunity to rent cabanas, boats, zip line, lockers and you name what. Back on the ship we attended the 50’s/60’s show that was fun, energetic and engaging. Sea Day #3: Throwback to 1987 theme with the Carnival Capers paper delivered under or door overnight. Oh my what a fantastic day we had. There was a ship building contest and frog races on the Lido deck. So much fun and we capped it off with Bud Anderson’s comedy at the Punchliner! Sea Day #4: A relaxing day for us with not much planned but we did attend the ventriloquist show of Phil Hughes. The military appreciation event was the 4th I have attended and I look forward to each cruise. I am so honored to be part of this event and my fellow veterans are amazing. I always get choked up during this tribute but would not miss it for anything else. Fun squad member Victoria added to the event with her story. Overall impression of this cruise: Started stress filled with the covid testing (Especially the 2nd test required for this cruise). I did not like the upgrade story at the port to find out that we would have 4 hours inconvenience time over the room change. If your going to have a change just be straight with us, we felt lied to. Getting back to cruising is wonderful. Carnival did a great job of finding us new ports when 2 of the ports cancelled. Since there were only 1500 passengers we had no wait time for anything. Beach chairs were abundant. It was a fantastic cruise and we look forward to the 4 more we already have booked. What Carnival did good: Just about everything. We felt very safe with the protocols and cleaning in place. Jake is an excellent cruise director. They kept us informed of changes as they happened. Sea Day brunch was excellent, as was the entertainment. The staff were very happy to see us back cruising. What Carnival did not so good: The food quality and selection was not as good as past cruises. Sometime the staff cut us off while walking around the ship (Pretty rude). Main dining room was not as good as the past (We only used it twice in 10 days). The Sunshine is a beautiful ship but is starting to show her age with minor maintenance issues. Pixels has become too expensive. Recommendation: Cruise with Carnival. They remain an excellent value committed to making your time with them memorable. I felt safer cruising than I do going to Walmart.

Ready to go back!! We always have a great time in a cruise.

This was my boyfriends first cruise, he’s addicted.

Sunshine is a solid ship. This ship was used as a substitute to Carnival Horizon. We were slightly disappointed, but it was nice to cruise after 2 years.

This was our second time sailing on Carnival Sunshine. Next year, if the itinerary changes, we will choose this ship again!

Although there was a lot of things that I believe could have been better, getting out of my normal day to day life was great. Unfortunately, I do not believe that I will be cruise out of Charleston again.

The boat rocked 3 days because of the rough waters. It was horrible. We felt it a lot. Each day on the deck the chairs had towels in them and no one ever came back to sit in them. You need workers to remove belongings if no one returns in 30 minutes because others dont get the chance to sit or layout on deck

Absolutely pleased with the boat and crew. My only issue was the massive groups of college students hogging the bars. The crew was working so hard and always went above and beyond.

amazing cruise, very entertaining, clean and we are ready to cruise again.

We had a great time! Loved that the port was a reasonable drive (far but closer than Florida ports). Would cruise from Charleston again. As always, can’t wait for the next cruise!!!

Only been cruising 2years this 4th..2nd on carnival. If ur on budget it's ok

Great cruise. Cruised with a big group and had a blast! Looking forward to my next cruise.

This cruise was very nice. Very disappointed in the buffet. Same stuff every lunch and breakfast. But thats my only real complaint. Everything else was wonderful.

Not my choice of ships to cruise on but this was to allow my sons family to have their first cruise experience that was close to home.

We loved this cruise and paid a reasonable price. The food and entertainment were great!!