Carnival Sunshine ?'s

[beshears]

I just read a couple member reveiws of the Carnival Sunshine, and they were pretty bad. I know some people can really be "nit picky," and I'm not that kind of a person.

 

We have never been on the Sunshine before. If you have been on this ship within the past year, would you give me (yes I know this is YOUR opinion)your pros/cons of this ship, in regard to rooms, entertainment, food?

[firsttimecruiser9876]

If you scroll through the sunshine thread you will see good reviews. I haven't been but I am booked for this summer.

[MarcelLucSell]

We went last March out of New Orleans. It was so good we sail again next month.

 

Great food and we sprang for Cloud 9 cabins.

[LPGA Golfer Gal]

We went last June/July from Canaveral to Roatan, Belize, HMC and we loved the Sunshine. We had a lido balcony and loved the stops and the ship. Yes it's our opinion and we were also concerned with the reviews but we make the best of our holiday time regardless! Loved it so much we are doing the Southern Caribbean on her this June/July

[rjrpar]

Dfini

 

 

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[vacationingcouple]

I enjoyed Sunshine - there are pro & cons on all ships. We were on repositioning cruise last year and had a great time. The food was good - enjoyed comedy shows, piano bar, etc.

[dawnrae]

We were on the Sunshine departing 1/3/15. The Lido deck food options were the best of any Carnival ship I have been on. (I am Platinum). Secret is to get your selections and head back to the Havana Bar for comfortable and plentiful seating. Omelet stations in Havana Bar moved quickly in the morning. Tasty Cuban treats there throughout the day. Never a wait at the excellent Guy Fiero Burgers or the Mexican Cantina. Very well laid out to handle crowds. Never felt "too busy". Anytime dining was much slower than other ships. Liked the Steakhouse so much that we did it twice.

 

Loved the shows in the Liquid Lounge and lots of seats with good sight lines. arrive about 15 minutes early for the best seats. Also be in line about 15 minutes before the doors open for good seats in the comedy club.

 

Cabin was standard for Carnival. Lots of storage, good beds and a large shower which was nice.

 

It was another good cruise for us.

[tandemcruzr]

Did a B2B last November and are booked on another B2B next Jan. Enjoyed it enough to do it again. :)

[atnick11]

All the posts are great news so far! We are looking to book on the Sunshine Feb 2016. I too was nervous reading some of the reviews but past experience has proven "Your vacation is what you make it!" We were on the Breeze in 2014, I had read a lot of negative reviews and started to get nervous. It was hands down the best ship we have been on yet. (The Breeze was our 3rd).

We book looking to have a great time with family and friends…not 5 star dining..not Ritz Carleton service…we have been happy with all of our cruises!

[geovet]

I have been on the Sunshine twice last year and booked for two more this year. The kids love all the sports and games. I like all the dining options.

[dane225]

We absolutely loved the Sunshine!!! We would sail on her again most definitely!!! I was also very concerned about the bad reviews before our cruise, but we loved it!!

[pauleydm]

We were on the Sunshine this past October. We had a great time and would sail on her again in a heart beat. It can get a little crowded at times near Guys Burgers and the Blue Iguana Cantina if you are trying to pass through to get to the Lido Market place. The specialty restaurants are great, especially JiJi's and Cucina Del Capitano. Service and staff are great and the decor is beautiful. Never smelled anything bad and I never noticed anything that was in disrepair. Have a great cruise.

Edited January 21, 2015 by pauleydm

[cruizinisthebest]

Can folks who are replying to this thread share where their stateroom was located? Right now we're deck 7 forward with a balcony and a 4J. Keep wondering if we should try to change to aft extended and a regular balcony should the prices drop to make those cabin types affordable. I originally wanted a scenic oceanview. No deal. All sold out!:(

Edited January 21, 2015 by cruizinisthebest

[margoann99]

Loved Sunshine. We had a balcony on Lido deck. I will never book anything different. Being on Lido, we were close to everything. Thought the dining room was understaffed but we didn't mind the extra time it took to eat. Spent most of our time by the pool, or at Alchemy Bar. Loved it and the bartenders were great although I think they have changed ships. My niece enjoyed The kid activities ( she was 12) and made lots of friends. One drawback, nothing for the 18-21 age group.

 

 

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[tucker2630]

We are planning to book an Eastern Caribbean cruise in mid June this summer. These positive reviews also make me feel much better about it. Did anybody experience the "rough ride" that was attributed to "an old wobbly ship" on some of the negative reviews? I get the feeling that it was just more complaining from somebody who didn't enjoy their trip, but I sure don't want to be seasick the whole trip.

And any comments about the complaints of feeling overcrowded in the public areas or the excessive smoke in the casino?

I loved the Glory and the Dream and hope to have a great time on the Sunshine also!!

[hckyfan68]

We took the family (me 46, dw 36, ds 11, twin dd 3) in January. The weather wasn't great, but loved the ship. We had 2 balconies on deck 7 midship. We will be cruising on her again

 

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[MarcelLucSell]

For the entire week, it felt like we weren't moving. March 2014

[alldantia]

The Lido deck food options were the best of any Carnival ship I have been on.

[beshears]

Hello everyone, thank you for your opinions on the Sunshine, which sound very good to me. I have cruised on a lot of ships, but I really like Carnival the best. :)

 

LPGA Golfer, you mentioned HMC. What island/port does that stand for?

 

Dawnrae, you mentioned Guy Fiero's eatery. Is there a cost to this, or is it free? What do they serve there?

[dawnrae]

Guy's is just burgers and fries and free. They have a selection to order from depending what you like and also have a toppings bar. Toppings include mushroom, onions and bacon and lots of other stuff. I don't eat burgers often but these were very good and available until 6 pm.

[beshears]

Thanks for letting me know about "Guy's." That sounds like a good place to eat, although I am not a hamburger person, I might just become one.

[A&Jfamily]

Hello everyone, thank you for your opinions on the Sunshine, which sound very good to me. I have cruised on a lot of ships, but I really like Carnival the best. :)

 

LPGA Golfer, you mentioned HMC. What island/port does that stand for?

 

Dawnrae, you mentioned Guy Fiero's eatery. Is there a cost to this, or is it free? What do they serve there?

 

HMC is half moon caye - their "private island" stop.

[primadonut]

We were on her last week. I wish we had stayed home and gone to work instead, it was a huge waste of time. Some issues were inherent in the ship: public areas (ex. the design of the JiJi's/Cucina/Havana area felt cheapened when compared against the design of the Breeze), some stuff was broken (aroma therma suite, elevator, our toilet, our shower, our AC), some stuff was closed due to weather (slides, sportsquare, much of serenity), service was slow in MDR and there were waits for MDR unless we went after 8pm, we had major issues with the kids camp, outside of our fluke serious issue, the 6-8 room is terrible, poorly designed and none of our kids in that age bracket wanted to go (we had 12 kids travelling with us). Pool is small so lots of kids in the hot tubs, especially with the closures of other activities and small camp spaces. Camps also didn't stick to the activity schedule they had provided so the kids felt lied to when they did go.

 

Other issues couldn't be helped, like the high winds and medical emergency, but Carnival made bad choices for port changes, cancelled Grand Turk and then blamed it on the medical emergency (they extended our time in St Thomas instead, most passengers were super sad to not have that port though...no one wanted the additional sea day).

 

Our biggest issue aside from the kids camp was the lack of activities early on in the week. we were all bored, twiddling our thumbs....nothing to do but buy drinks. very different from our experience on the Breeze.

 

If you are definitely sailing on the sunshine, just go into it with a hefty drinks budget and don't have any expectations of Carnival entertaining you...bring a book, games, etc. We bonded with a lot of passengers over our boredom, people were so unhappy that it got to be comical. I used to believe that any day at sea was better than a day on land but when people are sick the whole time and you just want to see something staying still it gets hard to keep up that positivity. It was a bit like a ferry to nowhere. I do believe our particular sailing was exceptionally bad and that the sunshine isn't always that bad but the issues with the kids club etc are enough to scare us away from her permanently.

[travler27]

Some like the Sunshine, some don't like the Sunshine. I'm in the DON'T LIKE category. If there were no other choices I still might sail her. Since I have other choices I'll stay off the Sunshine. Once was enough.

Edited January 23, 2015 by travler27

[sb4ever]

We sailed on Sunshine in July. We had a great cruise but she definitely wasn't our favorite ship. I think we definitely prefer Conquest class and above. Pros: It has all the 2.0 upgrades. Waterworks was nice for the kids but if it's windy, they did not open the big slides. Crew was extremely friendly and personable - one of the best crews we have cruised with. The library and Red Frog were some of our favorite "new" spots.

 

Cons: it has a weird layout. some of the decks don't go through all the way so it is a series of ups and downs. I was still getting lost up until the end of the cruise. The comedy club is very small. If we didn't get there early (like 45-60 minutes early), we didn't get in. The main show lounge is small; again, you need to get there early to get a seat.

 

Hope that helps.