Carnival Sunshine Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Overall a great time! cruising is what you make of it. I did like the sunshine smaller but modern ship everything was easy to get to easy to navigate. Just felt like the vibe was off a bit maybe because we lost a crew member before we left Port Canaveral seemed like the energy was just off. Our room 7283 felt like when you put a quarter in the bed at the cheap motel vibration so bad hard to sleep plus ac is loud and bathroom door is annoying we did have a fridge which was told on carnivals website we wouldn’t and shower was bigger than the norm. Food was great jijis was the best amazing! Of course can’t go wrong with guys and blue iguana and the pizza. There’s a breakfast omelette station and Cuban bites in the Havana area found this the go to area less busy drinks are the best from the Havana and alchemy bar. Just make sure you get in line for comedy at least 30 mins ahead venue is small and you’ll end up standing if you are late. Mikey the cd was good but the comedy host Nikki is incredibly fake and annoying. Staff was great for most part one issue with a rude server and not getting my drink till after I was done eating seaday brunch tip get your bar drinks BEFORE you sit for a meal. Staff kept ship very clean always right there to pick your dishes up and great drink service on the decks. The serenity are is awesome but people will hog it all day put their things up there at 6am and not move all day. Disappointed that all the movies under the stars were marvel movies not what I want to watch with my mom whole week. Also they changed the desserts on lido to ALL cakes... most were good but can only eat so much cake miss the variety. Embarkation took like 10 mins and debarkation was smooth Like I said I enjoyed my week and the sunshine and will sail on her again.

Best vacation ever! I lived everything about it! Can't wait to cruise with Carnival again. Just booked our next cruise!

We’re hooked on cruises now! We look forward to more exotic trips together!

My out take is the boat but a lot in a little space..and I have a great time but I will go a little big boat next time .

OVERALL REVIEW Cruising is what you make it. This was our 14th cruise. For the most part, we have been there and done that when it comes to what the ship offers. This was not a bad cruise. I would have given it 5 stars except our dinner service was inconsistent the whole time. Beside the dinner problems I will discuss below, the only real problem we noticed was the smell on Deck 4 before you go into the Limelight Lounge. This was the 1st time in our cruising experiences we have had anything this bad. You will have certain smells around a ship most days but never had one like this. I do not know what it was but it was there the whole cruise. Mikey is the best cruise director we have had (this was our 2nd time with him). He goes far and above the call of duty. With the tragedy of losing a crew member at the beginning of the cruise, Mikey did all he could to make sure the rest of the cruise was not affected by whatever happened. My prayers go out to the crew members family and friends. EMBARKATION We flew into Orlando and used the shuttle service from the airport. For the most part, everything went smoothly except for a large family contingent on the bus who did not realize we were not on the ship yet. They fought and loudly discussed whatever came to their minds. The folks behind us moved to the back of the bus to get away from them. Once at the pier from the moment we got off the bus until we went straight to the room to drop off our carry-on luggage, it was maybe 10 minutes. Port Canaveral did a great job getting us on the boat. SHIP EXPERIENCES We had sailed on the Sunshine once before. We found the ship easy to navigate. The serenity deck was a great place to unwind unless you got some drunks who did not realize the meaning of the word serenity. People saving chairs and not showing up was always a problem that Carnival does not seem to want to address. FOOD AND DINING Usually, the dining room service is impeccable. This cruise for the first time, it was disorganized and lacking. The food was good when you got it on time. My wife is on a special diet and had preselected her food choices. It was either there waiting on her or later. We had only one service out of the 8 nights where everyone at our table received their appetizers, entrees and desserts together. Every other night, we got our plates at different times. On 2 nights in a row, I did not get my appetizer until after everyone else at the table had gotten their entrees. One night, I did not receive a menu to place my orders. I had to borrow one from across the table. We could not figure out the problem. 3 nights in a row, my appetizer was served with my entree. This is the reason the overall rating is not a 5 star. Guys, Blue Iguana, Mongolian Wok (long waits though), and the Pizzeria were excellent. This was the best pizza we have had on a cruise. ENTERTAINMENT The cast and crew of the productions did an excellent job. We had watched Motor City and Epic Rock before. Studio VIP and Latin Nights were good. We enjoyed the Dive In Movies also. That is a good idea. The newest thing for us was the increased lineup of movies you could watch in the room. We watched several in the room and that was a welcomed change from cruises before. Mikey doing the 70’s and 80’s party in the atrium was great! The Love and Marriage show was as good as always. SERVICE AND STAFF Our room steward Arnold was super. There was nothing we needed because he always was there to help us and take care of anything we needed. Many others were helpful as always. SHIP QUALITY Except for the smell on deck 4, everything else was excellent. Sunshine will need some more updating soon but we had no issues with the ship outside of the smells. CABIN/STATEROOM We had an interior room. It was larger than any we have stayed in before. The shower and bathroom was roomier than any other we have had. It was not as cold as I wanted it at night but it was not really a problem. DEBARKATION Best one for us yet. We got to the Liquid Lounge at 7:30 am and were off the boat and in the bus by 8:15 am. This was much better organized than other cruises. PORTS OF CALL Grand Turk - this was my favorite. We snorkeled at the beach right off the ship. San Juan - We did the rainforest drive and it was good. Our tour guide Carlos was great! He kept us entertained and safely got us around. The little store we stopped at coming back to the ship tried to rip us off but we did the math with them and got them to understand what money they owed us. You just have to be careful. St. Kitts - We did the 10 best of St Kitts tour. It was good and the tour guide was a little hard to understand. The fort stop and the Palm Garden stop was worth the time there. St. Maarten - We did the 10 best tour here. This tour was extremely too long. The highlight was Maho Beach and getting to see the planes land and takeoff. There is a taco place there in the parking lot that is worth the money spent. Food was excellent! This was our least favorite overall because the island was brown everywhere. They have not cleaned up much from the hurricane 2 years ago. The tour guide was hard to understand.

Overall I had a great time on this ship. Mikey the cruise director is awesome and he really makes sure everyone is having a great time. If you love Martinis make sure you check out the Alchemy bar. It is also a great place to hang out until your table is ready for anytime dining. The Sunshine might be a smaller ship but they fit so much onto it there is never a dull moment. Make sure you check out Epic Rock, it was definitely my favorite of all the shows. Embarkation was easy, many people show up way before their appointed times but if you are there when you are supposed to be they let you skip the line and head right to the front. Serenity deck is great but it is hard to get a chair unless you wake up at 6am. Luckily people leave from time to time so if you wait it out you can find one. I loved this ship and will definitely book it again.

Even with the slow staff it was a very great experience, had both my daughters with me ,yes would do it again

Ship was very clean, little rust and wear & tear but still had a great time. Like others have said, navigating the ship is a little more difficult than other ships. Deck 3 you couldn't walk through because of the galley. After a couple of times you learn to avoid this. Liquid lounge was a bit small with limited seating, get there early for a good seat, the couch type chairs were great, fold up chairs had little leg room. Serenity was great, jumped in the hot tub each night directly after dinner and had very few people in it. Usually filled up after 9 or so, when shows ended. Hot tub stayed hot the whole week!!! Dinner in the main dining room was tolerable to decent, some entrées better than others. Roberto and Mark were great waiters and kept trying to bring me more food!!! Not sure I would book the Sunshine again, unless it was going to ports I really wanted to see.

I really enjoyed my cruise. Cruise director was excellent, very high energy.

Carnival, it’s the WALMART of the cruise lines but that’s mostly because of the cheaper prices. I can’t complain. It’s a cheap getaway. They have always went above and beyond for me.

I love this ship, and the dining staff are excellent. Serenity area is awesome, 3 floors! My first cruise and 3 rd cruise was on her and hope there will be more

Tons of fun slides games putt putt sky zone. Never made it to serinity.

it was a great cruise , good weather after leaving port . we're going on this ship again .

While the ports were interesting it felt as though I was on a self serve cruise. Even for being refurbished recently the ship felt dated. The dining experience was lack luster. We were a group of six and the best that could do in the main dining was a booth for four and adding a two top to the end. This made it very awkward for them to serve etc. Looking around the dining room it felt like a upgraded cafeteria. The food was acceptable but not anywhere near exceptional, I shook my head when they called a 16-20 shrimp a jumbo prawn for the formal night dinner. This is the first time I have ever experienced this on any cruise line. The upscale restaurant Fahrenheit 555 was a tremendous disappointment. No table cloths on the table and even refusal to allow the order of items that were ordered by a neighboring table. Service in “555” was not even at the standard of the main dining room. And we paid the up charge for this pleasure. The bright shining light of this experience on board was “Bonsai” sushi. The service and food was exceptional. The room... where to start, 8th deck balcony midship. Noise level fine during the day but after 12 midnight constant kitchen cart noises until 3-4 am. Seemed las though there was an escalator running the whole time. Room steward was good but upon embarking Room had to be re-cleaned, many steps had be missed in the process, particularly in the bathroom. In a nut shell if given an option to cruise on this ship again I would have to pass.

This was our first cruise we celebrated our anniversary. It was excellent. We actually had the time of our lives . We already booked another for March 2020 with the whole family. We didn’t have to worry about anything but waking up and showering. It was so nice . We loved it and it was the best vacation we’ve ever been on !!

Awesome doesn't even describe this cruise...EXTRA EXTRA AWESOME...The Captain was super friendly...MIKEY was absolutely FABULOUS...we ate in the Sunset Dining early dining and we had I DeWa and Montree and they were MARVELOUS...loved the ports and the food was great...I WILL DEFINITELY CRUISE ON THE SUNSHINE AGAIN SOON...Room 7230...Jackie, Lesa, Tammy and Kimberly

Not many things i would have done different as to it was breathtaking ,would have wanted it to last forever.We done steakhouse (spectaculer).Breakfast buffet excellent, movie nite spectacular.atmosphere with smoking or no smoking is great for all even though i am non smoker.

The rocking of the boat and the comfort of the bedding the atmosphere of the crew I couldn’t of asked for a better cruise. I did spend a lot of time in the Spa. Acupuncture new cure for pain 😊

Carnival Sunshine....Our very first cruise and we had a blast! The Ports were great, the staff were very friendly, the shows and entertainment were first class. The only reason I gave 4 stars is because the food wasn’t anything to talk about... most of it bland in the dining room. Go to Guys burgers and take advantage of the additional $20 charge for the steaks and lobster... realized there was a deli on the last night. Would have loved to have gone there! Not the best place to be if you are a healthy eater! Mikey the Cruise director was the best!

Overall it was good water in shower not too hot, could have had more selections of food