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Just back from the Sunshine - 5 nights 9/16-9/21


krispi
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We just returned from a 5 night cruise on the Carnival Sunshine to Amber Cove and Grand Turk.

 

A little about me: I'm not a frequent cruiser, but have been on 2 past Royal Caribbean cruises that I enjoyed. This was my first cruise with Carnival. My husband and I are early 40s (I just turned 40 on the boat!) with a 3 yr old daughter. It was the first cruise ever for my husband and daughter. We were sailing with my extended family, including my brother, his wife, their 2 kids (2.5 and 5.5), and my parents (mid-60s). My brother and his wife typically cruise on Princess but picked this boat for the kids camp and family friendly features. My parents have past cruises on Princess, Royal Caribbean, and a long time ago on Carnival. We had a balcony room on deck 7, and my family had 2 ocean view rooms on deck 5.

 

I have to say that our first impressions weren't all that great. Embarkation was fast and easy. The buffet was really crowded while everyone was waiting on their rooms, but we were able to find a seat in the Havana bar area. The muster drill seemed really disorganized, and it was super hot mustering outside. Everyone in our group (with 2 different muster stations) reported frustrations. My family was directed to the wrong location twice while trying to get to our muster station, and then we weren't able to get a wristband for our daughter because they had run out, so I had to hunt one down later at the kids camp. We saw people passing out from having to stand outside in the heat. The whole boat was stifling hot while we were docked in Port Canaveral, like the AC has to be turned off in port. (We didn't experience that in our other ports, only Port Canaveral.) The boat was also more difficult to navigate than other boats I've been on. It was really frustrating trying to learn my way around. I did read ahead of time about not being able to walk all the way through deck 3, and that did throw me off, but also things like having to walk through the limelight lounge or the restaurant to get to the other side of the ship. The hot boat plus the extra walking around trying to find things led to some heat exhaustion that first day. We settled back in the Havana area for sail away since it was so hot outside and to cool off with some cold drinks. I also felt a lot more movement around the boat for the first day and a half. We were fine with bonine and motion sickness patches, but I was getting worried that it would be like that the entire time. I think it was just from the recent hurricanes though. Eventually the water calmed down, and we barely felt the boat move the rest of the trip.

 

The boat was showing more wear and tear than I expected. The carpets in the stair areas looked dirty. There was more rust on the outside of the ship than I expected. My parents' room had large holes (2-3" in diameter) in the window curtain. The first time I stepped out onto our balcony to look around, when I went to go back inside the room, the door handle came off in my hand! I will say that I reported the issue to our room steward, and maintenance had it fixed very quickly. I've sailed on older boats before that seemed to be more well maintained. I know the ship is going into dry dock soon, so maybe that makes a difference. These were things we noticed, but they didn't detract from our experience.

 

Cruising with a little one meant that we didn't get to experience as many of the activities around the ship as I would have liked. My daughter got sick the first night (likely from too many sweets from grandparents and daddy), then was exhausted the next day and needed to go to bed early the second night, so that meant we couldn't send her to Camp Carnival as much as we had planned. When she did go to the kids camp, I was really impressed with the staff. They had great activities for the kids to enjoy. My niece and nephew spent more time there, and they always had a blast. My daughter wanted to eat dinner with the family, so she would finish her dinner, then we would drop her off at camp before dessert arrived. My neice and nephew ate dinner with the camp a few nights and enjoyed that as well.

 

The Ocean Plaza seemed to be our default hang out space. We enjoyed sitting and listening to the live music, and my daughter enjoyed dancing during the times she went with us. I sat in on a couple of the shows and thought they were just okay. I didn't get to go to all of them that I would have liked, but they didn't seem as good as other cruises I've been on. The timing of the theater shows also seemed a little off. We had early dinner, and the second show didn't start until 9:30. We had to pick up our daughter from Camp Carnival at 10:00, so that didn't give us much time. If the show had started at 8:30 or 9:00 like the comedy shows, that would have made it a lot easier. This was my first time cruising with a kid, so maybe I just never noticed before. We did go to a couple of the family-friendly comedy shows, and those were great. We were laughing the entire time. The one time we went to the piano bar, it seemed really good, but we didn't get to spend a lot of time there either. My daughter not feeling well took away 2 of our 5 nights, but we did enjoy the other 3 nights.

 

It is odd to me for a boat of that size to only have 1 main pool. It was pretty crowded on sea days. We spent most of our time at the waterworks area instead. My daughter loved the small waterslides and played on them for several hours at a time. Even though they aren't that big, they made a good sized splash when she landed. There's also a splash area where she would venture over to get wet from time to time. My nephew was tall enough to try the large waterslides, and he loved them. I didn't get to spend any time in the Serentiy area like I'd hoped, because we were busy having family play time, but I heard from some other people that it got pretty crowded around the small pool there.

 

I generally like to do excursions, but I didn't see any on this trip that looked good for a 3 yr old. The ones that she would be allowed on were all several hours long, and I didn't want to be stuck that long on a bus if she got cranky. So we decided to just stay around the port area, and the ports that we went to all had kid friendly activities right there.

 

During our day in Amber Cove, we decided to wait to get off the ship. We had the waterworks area all to ourselves for my daughter, neice, and nephew. We also spent some time in the main pool, with maybe 2 other people. We ate lunch on the ship, then went on shore to play on the splash pad and in the large pool. This seemed to work out really well, as most people did the opposite, going on shore in the morning then coming back onboard after lunch.

 

For our day in Grand Turk, we got off the ship earlier. By 9:00, the beach was already pretty crowded with 2 ships in port, but we were able to find a couple of the free chairs not too far away. The water had a lot of seaweed, probably from the recent hurricanes, but was a great temperature. The bottom was rockier than I expected on the right side of the beach. I should have brought my water shoes, but I'd left them in the cabin. We swam in the ocean, played in the sand for a while, then went to the pool at Margaritaville. It was nearly impossible to find a chair around the pool, but inside the pool itself wasn't too crowded. We had a very tasty but expensive lunch at Margaritaville before we went back onboard. My husband had been looking forward to using the free wi-fi at Margaritaville to check on his fantasy football teams, but we weren't able to get it to work.

 

Our favorite foods were the Guy's burgers and Blue Iguana by the pool. I thought that location was very convenient for sea days when we were enoying the water activities. We tried the brunch in the dining room on the first sea day, but I thought the menu was pretty limited. The brunch food was good, but we stuck to the lido buffet for the remaining mornings, as it just seemed easier. The Havana area was our go-to spot to meet up with family. It wasn't too crowded, and we could always get a table there. For dinner, I thought the food was good enough, but it didn't blow me away for the most part. My favorite thing was the chocolate melting cake. We had fixed dining with our extended family, so we didn't try any of the specialty restaurants for dinner. We did have lunch at Cucina de Capitano for lunch one day, but it wasn't as good as Guy's burgers or Blue Iguana.

 

Our room steward on deck 7 was Philip, and he was awesome! We saw him in the hallway almost every time we left or entered the room. He remembered our daughter by name and asked about her every time we saw him. We needed all new sheets after our first night (I won't go into details), and he took care of it quickly. We really appreciated him. Our dining room waiters were Edgar and Made. They also gave us good service. They had to deal with kids being cranky at times after long days, and always did so with a smile. Our cruise director was Mikey, and he was awesome! I really wish I'd been able to spend more time at the shows and seen more of him. He never seemed to run out of energy. I went to 2 music trivia/dance party events, and he was up on the bar dancing wearing the most hilarious costumes. He really made the ship have a fun atmosphere.

 

Debarkation wasn't as good as it could have been. We weren't in a hurry to get off the boat, as we were only driving to Orlando to spend a few days. We picked up luggage tags for time slot 21, one of the later times. They started calling the self-assist decks around 8:00 and proceeded slowly with just a few decks at a time. Around 9:00, they started calling the checked luggage. However, they called several at a time, maybe 1-10 or 11 to start with. Then they called everyone else shortly afterward. It led to a long line to get off the boat. If they had staggered everything more evenly, I think we would have had a better experience. It wasn't a bad experience, just a lot of people trying to get off all at the same time, making for a long wait to get off and through customs. Next time, I might try to be one of the earlier waves even though I wasn't in a rush, just to avoid the long line at the end.

 

After a bit of a rough start, we did really enjoy our cruise. My husband had never cruised before, but said he would go again (which is a big thing for him - he's not big on traveling). I enjoyed the new, updated decor on the Sunshine but thought the boat needed some additional maintenance overall. We were really impressed with how family friendly the cruise was, and we had great service from all the staff. I would try Carnival again, maybe on the Breeze, Vista, or Horizon. I also really enjoy the Voyager and Freedom class on Royal Caribbean, so it might come down to who has the best itinerary/price for us.

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Thanks for the review! We will be on the Sunshine a couple of weeks after the dry dock (Nov 10). Hopefully they will replace all the carpet, and she will look more new-ish.

 

Quick question, how do request Self Debarkation? We don't need assistance and will be looking for a quicker exit to drive over to Kennedy Space center. For my 15 year old space freak, that will be one of the highlights for his trip.

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Thanks for the review! We will be on the Sunshine a couple of weeks after the dry dock (Nov 10). Hopefully they will replace all the carpet, and she will look more new-ish.

 

Quick question, how do request Self Debarkation? We don't need assistance and will be looking for a quicker exit to drive over to Kennedy Space center. For my 15 year old space freak, that will be one of the highlights for his trip.

 

You don't request self assist debarkation. When the ship has cleared customs, they will announce you may start debarkation if you are able to carry all your luggage off yourself and do not have any checked luggage. Be prepared for a mad rush, it's crazy.

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Thanks for the review! We will be on the Sunshine a couple of weeks after the dry dock (Nov 10). Hopefully they will replace all the carpet, and she will look more new-ish.

 

Quick question, how do request Self Debarkation? We don't need assistance and will be looking for a quicker exit to drive over to Kennedy Space center. For my 15 year old space freak, that will be one of the highlights for his trip.

 

You just don't put your luggage out at night. They'll call by floor for self debark. At least in my past experiences.

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Thanks for the review! We will be on the Sunshine a couple of weeks after the dry dock (Nov 10). Hopefully they will replace all the carpet, and she will look more new-ish.

 

Quick question, how do request Self Debarkation? We don't need assistance and will be looking for a quicker exit to drive over to Kennedy Space center. For my 15 year old space freak, that will be one of the highlights for his trip.

 

Yes, it's not really something you request. When they put out the luggage tags for the people who want to check their luggage, you just wouldn't pick one up. Then when everyone else puts their luggage out to be checked on the last night, you would keep it with you instead.

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I am glad that in spite of a few bumps in the road you had a fun cruise.

 

Thanks for the thorough review.

 

Thanks, we did have fun! The best part was seeing the magic of the trip through little eyes and having family time together. :D

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We were on the same cruise too. This was one of the easier embarking and debarking but we did do self assist as deck 3 was called first. We were also fortunate to have our drill in the theater (we have lucked out about 4 or 5 times out of 20+ cruises). There are some areas in need of light maintenance but one of the bartenders said they had a dry dock coming up in October. Steven was great in the piano bar and we ended up hanging out there several nights. Grand Turk tip, head further to Jacks shack where the beach is mostly rock free and no seaweed issues there.

 

 

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Great review! My husband and I were on the same cruise and did a back to back so we were on the ship 13 days, we loved it. I already booked a back to back on the Breeze next year. A Vac. is what you make it.

 

Glad you had a great time! We were one of the last 50 or so people off the boat, and while we were waiting in line at customs, we saw all the back-to-back cruisers being escorted off to go through customs. I would have been jealous, but we were on our way to Disney World for a day to have a different kind of fun. :)

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We were on the same cruise too. This was one of the easier embarking and debarking but we did do self assist as deck 3 was called first. We were also fortunate to have our drill in the theater (we have lucked out about 4 or 5 times out of 20+ cruises). There are some areas in need of light maintenance but one of the bartenders said they had a dry dock coming up in October. Steven was great in the piano bar and we ended up hanging out there several nights. Grand Turk tip, head further to Jacks shack where the beach is mostly rock free and no seaweed issues there.

 

 

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I noticed that the theater was a muster station and wondered why they made some inside and some outside. That seems like a strange decision. We ended up having to muster with the special needs group in the Limelight Lounge, because after being directed to the wrong place twice, our correct muster station was full.

 

If you saw 2 couples come into the piano bar on the last night of the cruise then leave after about 15 minutes to go pick up our kids from Camp Carnival, that was us!

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Did you happen to notice if the waterslides were open at Amber Cove? We are cruising Oct 6th on the Breeze and had read they had been closed.

 

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Yes, they were open. They have a higher height limit than the ones on the ship, and they also have a weight restriction too. My nephew was tall enough for the larger slides on the ship but not tall enough for the ones in Amber Cove.

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Yes, they were open. They have a higher height limit than the ones on the ship, and they also have a weight restriction too. My nephew was tall enough for the larger slides on the ship but not tall enough for the ones in Amber Cove.
Great thanks, bad news about the height though. Any idea what those limits are? My DS 9 is small for his age at 48 inches.

 

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Great thanks, bad news about the height though. Any idea what those limits are? My DS 9 is small for his age at 48 inches.

 

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The slides on the ship were 42". Not sure about the ones on Amber Cove. My nephew, who's probably the size of an average 6-7 year old, was just an inch or so too short.

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