Picture Review of SUNSHINE and Western Caribbean Ports of Call

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[mpcaruth]

If you are interested in port ideas, I have many other cruise reviews with lots of port photos and advice. The links to the reviews are provided in my signature.

 

As many have the signatures turned off, especially with mobile devices, I will provide the links:

 

Cruise Picture Reviews:

 

Carnival Sunshine to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Costa Maya: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2169332

 

 

WOW! Such an awesome review of the Carnival Sunshine!! I'll be cruising to the Eastern Caribbean (from Port Canaveral) on the Sunshine in 27 days! I'm so VERY excited to see your 4J cabin review (with photos), as I have also booked a 4J cabin (#3124). I've never had a 4J cabin before, as we usually try to book balcony cabins, (if $$$$ allows,) but this cruise, $$$ is tight. I'm very excited to see the photos of the "non-obstructed obstructed view" out the cabin window. I'm also thrilled that the cabin is 220 square feet, instead of the usual 185. I didn't know that!!! I cruised on the Sunshine when she was still the Destiny, and I'm looking forward to cruising on her since her refurbishment. Thanks again for your wonderful review.

Glad my review could be helpful. Since we mostly cruise in quad cabins, the room size is significantly important. Enjoy your cruse!

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[luvtocruz59]

Loved all the pics. Thanks for sharing

[jk666]

OK, so this was my very first cruise and I used this thread EXTENSIVELY to plan most of my onboard activities, so thank you all for your help. We cruised from NYC to St. John and Halifax last week 8/28/17-9/2/17. Forgive me as I'm going to ramble on about my experiences.

 

We live in Westchester County and drove into NYC, I was afraid parking would be a problem. It was not. Plenty of parking on the roof of the pier, $40/day paid in advance.

 

The lines inside the terminal were very long and very slow. Even the Carnival staff said it was much slower than normal. As a result we were among the last people onboard only a few minutes before the scheduled sail time. After that a sick passenger made us 90 minutes late departing. The captain explained the reason for the delay and promised it would not change our arrival time in St. John.

 

My other concern was finding our way around the ship. Not an issue. It only took an hour or so to find everything, even my 9 year old daughter was comfortable getting around by herself. None of us had eaten lunch so we made a bee-line for Guy's and wolfed down burgers then went up to see the harbor as we left port. This was the first of many burgers...a favorite for our family.

 

First night we attended the welcome aboard show, while somewhat informative, I don't think you have to go in order to enjoy your cruise.

 

Food wise we only went to the dining room once for a birthday celebration, I was not super impressed with their food over the buffet. Every other day was Lido buffet or burgers. I wasn't thrilled with the burritos. I think everything is better if you get it before it sits around too long. Ice cream was a hit and the pizza was excellent as long as the line wasn't too long. My son and I hit the taste bar on sushi night, but never went to Bonsai. The omelette station was a nice break from the powdered eggs.

 

I scoffed at suggestions that we watch movies by the pool, but we ended up watching five over a five day cruise. It helped that they showed Rogue One, Fantastic Beasts and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 as they are family favorites. Since it was so windy and chilly we bundled up in blankets (just make sure you keep track and return them) and it was fine. A few times the kids watched the movie from the hot tub.

 

Pool temperature varied from hot to very hot. My daughter said she had to some out to cool off. Water slides had no lines and she loved them even though it was windy. FYI the yellow slide doesn't seem steep enough to get you going so stick to blue and green. Mini golf was challenging because of the wind, but we gave it a go anyway. The ropes course was only open one day and we missed it.

 

If you don't want to sit inside, some of the shows are shown on the pool screen.

 

We attended a short magic show and later a workshop where they showed us how to do the tricks.

 

Harry Potter trivia was fun, my 9 year old daughter came in second place and everyone was very impressed.

 

Rooms were small but no complaints. We loved to watch the ship's progress on the TV map. Our room was next to a galley so there seemed to be some noise starting at 3 or 4 am.

 

We all turned our phones off, so we couldn't text to find out where people were. Luckily we stayed in a few 'home base' spots so we just checked them til we found each other.

 

Weather was much windier than we expected. I guess it's always like that on a ship. I was in constant fear of my glasses blowing off. It was chilly, but never cold. I for one loved the cool weather.

 

The captain warned us Wed night about rough seas. I noticed it was worse, but no one got sick. I asked a crew member how bad it was in his opinion and he said 4/10. I'd hate to see anything above a 6. There was a very loud bang that woke us all up.

 

Finding a chair on deck was never an issue, not even by the pool.

 

Crowds varied, but I never felt like the ship was over crowded.

 

I am not a shopper, so meh. The kids passed through the arcade, but didn't play anything.

 

Since we had kids we never really went up to the Serenity deck, though we all snuck up there at 5 am as we sailed into NYC on the way back, what a breathtaking view.

 

Staff was pretty friendly and approachable, some spoke English better than others though.

 

Getting off the ship was fairly easy. We were on three different rooms on two different decks but we all left at the same time without an issue. Checked bags were waiting for us. Customs asked my under 16 kids a few questions about where they were born and when since they didn't have passports or photo ID.

 

A cruise would not have been my first choice, but I think we all got something out of it. We're not interested in cruising to the Caribbean so we may explore other Northern ports. Everyone seemed to want to return to the Sunshine.

 

Thanks again to everyone who posted above for all your advice!!.

 

If anyone has questions about the NYC side of things or St. John/Halifax, just ask. I will start a separate thread with my port info.

[GMRPHRN]

Thermostat in cabin (by the way, we never had an issue with being either hot or cold on the ship).

 

Thanks for the great review. I am sailing this ship in December. Every cruise I have been on I have had trouble being cool enough in the cabin. (Actually slept with the balcony door propped open while on a cruise to Alaska because it was too warm in the room). I saw the digital thermostat and am hoping they have better control than the old school ones.