Quick Sunshine Review: 8 Night Exotic Caribbean 7-7-18

This was my second time on the Sunshine. We had a total of three cabins, two oceanview and one balcony. I had the L shaped aft oceanview 2334. I loved the layout and the fact that there were two large windows! My boys had 2344 which is also an odd shaped aft ocean view. Although I liked mine better, I would still take either if they were available. The layout makes them seem larger.

Premier: This was a Casino Premier cruise for me, my first so I didn't know what to expect. I thought they did a great job with the gifts/invites/contests/etc. that came with being Premier. I could not take advantage of the Priority boarding because the rest of my party was not allowed to board with me, but no big deal there...we all made it on board before noon. I enjoyed the games and notes everyday in the cabin from the casino hosts as well as the cookies, candies, and other gifts delivered throughout the cruise. I realize that I probably paid for them many times over in the casino, but it is still nice! ;)

Food: My boys loved Guy's Burgers everyday for lunch while my daughter had the "make your own pasta" everyday. We went to the dining room every day for breakfast, either the Sea Day Brunch, Port Day Breakfast or Dr. Seuss Breakfast. For dinner, we ate at the Steakhouse one night (Amazing!), JiJi's Asian one night (Really Good!), and Cuchina del Capitano one night (Hit or Miss). Other than that we ate in the MDR every other night. Our servers were awesome! The food was good. The only place we never ate was the Lido Buffet.

Ports: Grand Turk was a blast, Margaritaville is always fun! The ocean was a bit sea-weedy, but once you got past that, it was nice and clear. San Juan: Still showing signs of hurricane damage, but a great place to get rum! St. Kitts: Cute little island. St. Maarten: My favorite island in the Caribbean! Spent a great day at Great Bay Beach, then a bit of shopping.

My 6 year old loved the kids club, karaoke and the arcade. My 15 year old had a harder time finding things to do, but enjoyed the waterslides, karaoke and the arcade.

My biggest (only) complaint with this cruise is the entertainment options. Carnival needs to get better live entertainment. The production shows were not good. The performers were great, but the content was pretty stale.

Other than that, we loved every minute of our cruise and are eagerly awaiting her move to Charleston next year! I am happy to answer questions if you've got them. I do have cabin pictures and the Fun Times once I get organized.

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the review, Rachel! I agree with you about the shows. They were lackluster although the

performers were working their hearts out. I've been working on writing a very detailed review of this cruise, should be ready to start posting it within the next couple of days.

This was my second time on the Sunshine. We had a total of three cabins, two oceanview and one balcony. I had the L shaped aft oceanview 2334. I loved the layout and the fact that there were two large windows! My boys had 2344 which is also an odd shaped aft ocean view. Although I liked mine better, I would still take either if they were available. The layout makes them seem larger.

Thanks for the review,we'll be on the Sunshine in April!

Was there any noise or vibrations from the engines or the floor above? I liked the layout and the fact that it had 2 windows and tried to talk DH into it, but he was concerned about noise in that location. I think these are still available for our sailing (at least they were last time I looked) so, if you can confirm they are fairly quiet, I may still be able to get it. TIA! :)

Thanks for the review,we'll be on the Sunshine in April!

 

Was there any noise or vibrations from the engines or the floor above? I liked the layout and the fact that it had 2 windows and tried to talk DH into it, but he was concerned about noise in that location. I think these are still available for our sailing (at least they were last time I looked) so, if you can confirm they are fairly quiet, I may still be able to get it. TIA! :)

Schazzy - From the engines, yes but not bad...just like hearing the A/C hum. It kind of sounded like the shower was running all the time. Nothing that I remember from the floor above. There is some pretty serious clanging when docking though. That can be a issue if you are not a morning person, but my sons were able to sleep right through it in the next cabin down (2344) so YMMV! I have the same cabin booked on Conquest in December so it clearly didn't bother me that much!

I love the Sunshine and I will be booking her again once she moves to Charleston...Probably the same cabin if possible!

Thanks for the review, Rachel! I agree with you about the shows. They were lackluster although the

performers were working their hearts out. I've been working on writing a very detailed review of this cruise, should be ready to start posting it within the next couple of days.

LuckyBecky, Yay! I can't wait to read your full review! We really love production shows as well as piano bar sing-alongs and neither seemed to be that good on this cruise. We certainly found other ways to entertain ourselves though!

Thanks for the review. we were on that Aruba cruise, and I saw two of the Shows..."Motor City' and "Epic Rock". I liked them both very much. I did note that they only had six dancers. I miss the full group they used to have, They did a song by Queen in "Epic Rock" that sent chills up my spine. My daughter and grandchild saw them all. My grandchild liked "Studio VIP" because apparently one dancer "showed" his underwear. She thought that was hilarious. She is 7.

SO glad to hear that St. Martin's is back in business after the storm. I love to go to the Mall of the West Indies and buy French fragrances and soaps there. Hope it reopened.

Thanks for the positive review, sailing on her in November.

Schazzy - From the engines, yes but not bad...just like hearing the A/C hum. It kind of sounded like the shower was running all the time. Nothing that I remember from the floor above. There is some pretty serious clanging when docking though. That can be a issue if you are not a morning person, but my sons were able to sleep right through it in the next cabin down (2344) so YMMV! I have the same cabin booked on Conquest in December so it clearly didn't bother me that much!

 

I love the Sunshine and I will be booking her again once she moves to Charleston...Probably the same cabin if possible!

Thanks! :D

Here are a couple of pictures of the cabin.

The closets and bathroom were the same as every other Carnival ship I’ve been on before, so no pics of those.