Carnival Sunshine 8/8/15 8 day sailing review with pics

[jimbo5544]

I intended to write more than I did today, but hope to kick it up a notch tomorrow. Really want to get to what happened our first port day in Aruba.

[riclop]

Thanks for taking the time.

[NCTribeFan]

I thought I had read that they had re-established a new roll out date (specifically for the Sunshine), but I might be all wet. I do get your point on the menu, however, after sailing the Breeze with the new menu, and then sailing the Sunshine with the original menu, we viewed it as a glimpse of what was. We certainly (like you) know the menu pretty well and really don't need to look at the menu.......

 

I'll have another look. On our Roll Call, I'd posted the original list of roll-out dates and insisted we'd have the new menus, then someone corrected me by posting Mr. Heald's announcement that it was all delayed (except for maybe one ship; neither Splendor nor Sunshine). Maybe they've changed it again. Wouldn't be a big surprise, would it? :p

 

Regarding the new menu, I've been on a couple of ships that had it. I didn't feel it was a big plus or minus either way. However, one thing for me that disappointed with the new menu was that they had fewer offerings of the cold soups. I really enjoy those. The old menu has them almost, if not every, night. Change happens. No big deal ... I don't have to plan it, cook it, or clean it up, so it's all good for me. :D...

 

NOOOO! Don't say that! I thought I'd look at the new menus and saw that the chilled fruit soups were still all there. I have every one of them when offered. That's one change I don't want to see. What I really want is Beef Wellington again! It was always my favorite dish and then, naturally, was one that was dropped several years ago.

 

Back to the review - looking forward to your thoughts on Aruba and Curacao.

[NCTribeFan]

Yes, after much searching, I found this on the menu rollout. John posted this on 8/13...

Some news on our new menus or the "American Table" as it is known.

This voyage we are introducing "American Table" to the Carnival Triumph.

On September 20 we will introduce the menus to the Carnival Pride

On October 08 to the Carnival Conquest

There will be no further ships this year and I will let you know as soon as I can what will happen in 2016.

 

And now, back to your regularly-scheduled review! ;)

[movingimages]

 

NOOOO! Don't say that! I thought I'd look at the new menus and saw that the chilled fruit soups were still all there. I have every one of them when offered. That's one change I don't want to see. What I really want is Beef Wellington again! It was always my favorite dish and then, naturally, was one that was dropped several years ago.

 

Back to the review - looking forward to your thoughts on Aruba and Curacao.

 

I hope you are right. On the Liberty a year ago May, our menu was very similar to this one I found posted (we were on a Southern, not a Western). Don't appear to be any cold soup choices, although I do remember that I had strawberry soup one night. I've seen reference to the menus continuing to be tweaked.

http://www.zydecocruiser.net/menus/AT_AF/liberty/western/libertyWestern.htm

[Jamman54]

Hey Jimbo!! I'm finally all caught up now. GREAT start to your review!!We are looking forward to our first cruise on the Sunshine next August, in an aft wrap of course, so I'm jotting down some notes as your review unfolds. Looking forward to your days in Aruba and Curacao. We had such a great time there on our Liberty cruise last year.

[jimbo5544]

Hey Jimbo!! I'm finally all caught up now. GREAT start to your review!!We are looking forward to our first cruise on the Sunshine next August, in an aft wrap of course, so I'm jotting down some notes as your review unfolds. Looking forward to your days in Aruba and Curacao. We had such a great time there on our Liberty cruise last year.

 

Hey Jeff! Thanks! You will not be disappointed in the Sunshine. My brother was in the aft wrap port side on the sixth floor and loved it. If you have questions about either island I don't hit on feel free to ask.

[jimbo5544]

So in case you have not seen what the medal looks like instead of the ship on the stick (not sure how that could be....), here is a pic.

 

[jimbo5544]

After the show and the mini reunion of sorts, we wandered around the ship some more and happened into the piano bar and caught the last 15 minutes of a set. Then decided it was time to call it a day and headed back to our room for the evening.

[jimbo5544]

One of the amenities of doing a group is you get amenity points that you can use for and in support of the group. We always try and have a shared cocktail party for our group. The ship gets to pick the when and where and you typically (although not always) share it with at least another group or two. They usually are near the last day of the cruise, but you don't find out till your on the ship. Our last cruise on the Breeze in April (one of our larger groups, over 130 people) it was the same exact time as the Diamond event. The cocktail party is a time for us to say thanks for cruising with us, tell them of our future group cruising plans and to have an hour to catch up all together and discuss all the fun times that were had. We had to be there and sadly had to decline the Diamond event.

 

When we got back to our room we found the notice for the group party which was to the next day (earlier then we have ever had one before) at 4:30 in the lounge where the comedy club is. We also got an invitation to the Diamond event which was to be held the same day at 5 in the Piano bar (an overlap again but at least we could attend and they were almost next to one another).

 

Here is what Diamond event invite looks like.

 

[meatloafsfan]

Thanks for the review. Sunshine is on my list for late next year (after the Pride Journey cruises, and another Pride cruise with my brother and his kids, and Canadian thanksgiving on the Pride) because well, I'd like to sail a different Carnival ship then the Pride.

 

And they have aft balcony Accessible cabins for 3 plus all of the new bells and whistles of 2.0.

 

Your review is just gravy and pushing me over the edge to book it.

[jimbo5544]

We also had received a letter that due to regular maintenance issues, we were going to be arriving in Aruba 2 hours later expected (I also had found a note on the roll call posted from Tom of Tom and Cheryl who posts here a lot saying the same thing- his post was much more timely - think it was embarkation day, but I had not seen it).

 

This screwed up some plans we had made for a private excursion we had planned for our group in Aruba using Jethro for a group catamaran sailing that was set for 1:30. I immediately emailed him (he responded right away) and that was the only time he could do the sail, so we ended up having to cancel. Funny how things work out, we ended up getting on the Carnival sunset cat cruise....more on that later.

 

We made plans to visit the excursion desk the next morning to see if we could get on that. That was enough for the day and turned in for the night.

 

[jimbo5544]

Thanks for the review. Sunshine is on my list for late next year (after the Pride Journey cruises, and another Pride cruise with my brother and his kids, and Canadian thanksgiving on the Pride) because well, I'd like to sail a different Carnival ship then the Pride.

 

And they have aft balcony Accessible cabins for 3 plus all of the new bells and whistles of 2.0.

 

Your review is just gravy and pushing me over the edge to book it.

 

Glad the review helps. We had a wonderful time. We also love the Pride and have sailed on her 3 times and looking at a 4th for next year. Ask any questions you have along the way.

[pmoniz]

The Sunshine still has the old menu. Our last cruise in April when we were on the Breeze, they had the new menu's and service. I do have to say it was interesting going back to the old menu. After dinner we went and hung out at Oceans Plaza. We got our first glimpse of of In Crowd, the band that played there. We listened to their set and when they took a break, we moved on. We stopped in the RFP for a nightcap and listened to Michael playing the guitar and singing, then we headed back up to the room.

 

Glad to know there are a few places to go for live music at night! This was lacking on our last cruise and was kind of a bummer for us! So glad to know we have choices - hopefully - in March!! Great review so far!!

[jimbo5544]

Glad to know there are a few places to go for live music at night! This was lacking on our last cruise and was kind of a bummer for us! So glad to know we have choices - hopefully - in March!! Great review so far!!

 

Thank you for the nice comment. We found the entertainment on the Sunshine, well.......entertaining.;)

[jimbo5544]

We awoke on Sunday (the 2nd sea day) early as is our norm and went out to walk as we normally do, only to find that the upper decks were closed due to some windy conditions (it was a little bumpy). We decided to try the Gym and found it almost to be empty. After our time in the gym we showered, changed and headed to meet our core group for breakfast. After breakfast some of the group went to our area on the mid level of he Serenity decks (we were able to snag it every day of our cruise) and the wife and I headed down to see what we could do since we were going to miss our excursion in Aruba that we had prearranged.

 

After some haggling, er I mean discussion we were able to get all the parties from our group that wanted to do it on a sunset catamaran sail that Carnival had. More on this later. WE headed up told the rest what we able to get and everyone seemed happy.

 

We are sun people, we enjoy sea days a lot. We find it to be very relaxing and something that we look forward to. As the day waned on though, I could tell some on the ship were getting a little cabin fever and longing for dry land. After lunch we headed back to the water park area and spent a couple of hours with our 2 grand kids to give their parents a respite, the plans were for a sleepover that evening as well.

 

Around 3:30 we dropped the kids off and headed back to the cabin to get ready for our shared cocktail party and then a little early exit to head next door (sort of) to the Piano Bar for the Diamond event. When we got to our cocktail party we found that the other group was from CT as well (a little strange. We spent some time talking and conversing with our group about the cruise, how everyone was adapting and plans (specifically for Aruba) and then headed over to the diamond event.

[jimbo5544]

We are fairly new to being Diamond (April Breeze cruise this year). That being said, we were invited to attend a Diamond event two years ago aboard the Pride which also happened to be a quarterly recognition event (there was only one Diamond couple on that cruise whom we have become good friends with since then). One of the senior staff at that event is on the Sunshine now and recognized us when we entered the Piano bar on the Sunshine.

 

The event itself was low key, easy going and there were 24 Diamonds on this sailing (much more than our other ones). I did learn a couple of new things in the conversations we had with staff there. The most noteworthy was that the number 2 guy (hopefully soon to be a captain in his own right) was from Croatia. Nice guy and he def put a dent in my logic that Carnival will always have Italian captains (as a matter of fact we discussed that and also the decent event of another line having a female captain as well).

 

We also got to finally meet Tom and Cheryl (and their son). I had read many of Tom's posts over the years and had seen his pictures so I was able to walk up and introduce us to him, his wife and son. We had a nice conversation with them as well. Drinks and nice apps were free flowing and it was a very enjoyable time. After an hour or so we headed out to get ready for dinner.

[jimbo5544]

After dinner I was lucky enough to catch a sunset. We used to exclusively do late seating but have migrated to early seating mainly because one of our five kids and their family might be sailing with us and for the sake of the little ones. Having early dining can sometimes be a chore when on a island and suddenly you have to get back for dinner. There are of course other eating options, but we enjoy the MDR experience as part of our cruise. I did get a chance to sneak out and get a sunset pic before we departed for meeting up with the crew after dinner.

 

Edited August 25, 2015 by jimbo5544

[shellden]

What a sunset, magical! Thank you for taking the time to write this review its so fun reading along. Sailing in late October.

[jimbo5544]

What a sunset, magical! Thank you for taking the time to write this review its so fun reading along. Sailing in late October.

 

Glad you are enjoying it! More sunsets to come.....

[Rock712]

Thanks so much for taking your time to write this review. We are sailing the Sunshine next April for a 9 day Journeys cruise and I went back and forth on whether or not to book due to the wildly mixed reviews this ship seems to get. I finally decided to see for myself what the fuss was about and went ahead and booked and really looking forward to the cruise. I've written several reviews myself and know that it can be a lot of work , especially posting the pictures. Thanks again for sharing your experience with us and look forward to the continuing story !!!!

[jimbo5544]

Thanks so much for taking your time to write this review. We are sailing the Sunshine next April for a 9 day Journeys cruise and I went back and forth on whether or not to book due to the wildly mixed reviews this ship seems to get. I finally decided to see for myself what the fuss was about and went ahead and booked and really looking forward to the cruise. I've written several reviews myself and know that it can be a lot of work , especially posting the pictures. Thanks again for sharing your experience with us and look forward to the continuing story !!!!

 

Thanks so much for the kind words. Part of the reason that we picked the Sunshine was that we got a glimpse of it when she came over and saw some writings here that were so different that what our initial experience was, so we had to find out. Is the Sunshine a perfect ship? no, but I would not hesitate (and already have it booked) to sail her again. The additions to the the ship that were made during the transformation are spectacular, and in part the basis of parts of the being built Vista.

 

Writing the review is a labor love, it helps keeping the memory of our cruise fresh and I enjoy sharing it (hope it is not to dragged out).

[jimbo5544]

Thanks so much for taking your time to write this review. We are sailing the Sunshine next April for a 9 day Journeys cruise and I went back and forth on whether or not to book due to the wildly mixed reviews this ship seems to get. I finally decided to see for myself what the fuss was about and went ahead and booked and really looking forward to the cruise. I've written several reviews myself and know that it can be a lot of work , especially posting the pictures. Thanks again for sharing your experience with us and look forward to the continuing story !!!!

I see in your signature you are doing a canine companion cruise on ROTS, what is that all about?

[lfresa]

great review so far. I see your from outside of New Haven. I work in New Haven and live in Shelton going out on the Sunshine Sept 6th. small world.

[jimbo5544]

great review so far. I see your from outside of New Haven. I work in New Haven and live in Shelton going out on the Sunshine Sept 6th. small world.

 

Thanks for the kind words, we are from North Branford. It certainly is a small world.