A few comments about sunshine

[buzz2400]

Just got off today. Went to st. Maarten, st. Kitts, p. Rico and grand Turk. Been on about 4 or 5 carnival cruises. This was the worst. Talked to a bunch of people on cruise and they felt the same. One person even named it the self serve ship. I'm not a picky eater but the food was terrible. Also entertainment team wasnot so good. Gemma the comedy manager was not so friendly, her voice was annoying and she kept telling the same story that she was born via a Petri dish. Cruise director was donkey. Had him before but not as cruise director. Never really saw him. We were in inside stateroom on deck 1. Wish I had brought an extension cord, clock that illuminates. Room wasn't very old. Last show on cruise, epic rock, was very good. I will say that even though not my favorite ship, and other little things that happened, cruise Diego by fast. Oh and we did self debark and was supposed to get off at 7:30 but they didn't let us off until 8:30.

[MACUQUI58]

Just got off today. Went to st. Maarten, st. Kitts, p. Rico and grand Turk. Been on about 4 or 5 carnival cruises. This was the worst. Talked to a bunch of people on cruise and they felt the same. One person even named it the self serve ship. I'm not a picky eater but the food was terrible. Also entertainment team wasnot so good. Gemma the comedy manager was not so friendly, her voice was annoying and she kept telling the same story that she was born via a Petri dish. Cruise director was donkey. Had him before but not as cruise director. Never really saw him. We were in inside stateroom on deck 1. Wish I had brought an extension cord, clock that illuminates. Room wasn't very old. Last show on cruise, epic rock, was very good. I will say that even though not my favorite ship, and other little things that happened, cruise Diego by fast. Oh and we did self debark and was supposed to get off at 7:30 but they didn't let us off until 8:30.

I really don't what ship you were on, cause I got off the Sunshine yesterday and everything was awesome... Friendly staff, food was great, A/C was cold in our cabin and public areas... CD Donkey was excellent... We have been on NCL, RCCL and Disney Cruises and both my husband and I thought this cruise has been one of the best... If you are thinking on sailing the Sunshine do not hesitate give it a try.... I had planned on sailing her last October and because of all the false complaints we decided to go else where. Finally decided to go ahead and try the Sunshine this year and glad we did.... We will most definitely sail the Sunshine again.... Do not pay attention to the complainers cause they will never be happy....

[Yvonne]

It always amazes me that two people on the very same cruise can have such opposite opinions of the entire cruise, as the OP and the poster following have.

 

I enjoy reading reviews of cruises, but if it's a cruise I'm thinking about going on I will go no matter the negative reviews.

 

Same goes for any kind of trip, hotel stay, restaurant, etc. review. I enjoy reading them, but rarely put much stock in an occasional bad review. Now if the reviews are overwhelmingly more bad than good, then I do tend to re-think it.

[NCTribeFan]

Just goes to show that people on the same sailing can have very different perceptions of their experience.

 

Seriously, the sample size of people reporting back here is too small to even pay attention. I read reviews (and I write them), but getting the thoughts of 2 people out of 3000 on each sailing really can't tell us much, can it?

 

I appreciate people sharing their thoughts but deciding what ship to sail based on such a teeny, tiny sample is just silly, imho.

 

But then, I really don't care what ship I'm on. I sail for the itinerary. Sailing on different ships is fun, but I don't pick my cruises based on the ship, so I don't give much weight to those comments. The ship just gets me where I want to go and provides some good food and entertainment on the way.

[cruizinisthebest]

lol. Is this forreal.

 

The comedy club manager we had never said a word about being born in some petri dish. And I went to 4 comedy shows. Don't know what was up with that.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed the Sunshine a few weeks ago. Donkey was excellent. Saw him plenty. I would book this ship again next year if it weren't for wanting to try some others. It's unfortunate the OP didn't enjoy his or her cruise.

 

What do you mean by the room wasn't very old? huh? All of the cabins on deck 1 are the older cabins.

Edited September 12, 2015 by cruizinisthebest

[crusinpsychRN]

I'm a picky cruiser and remember when the food was top notch and service included all the silly little things we miss.

 

Chicken can only be cooked so many ways, seems Indian chefs can't cook fish and frying is the new stand by. Lido buffet food, especially at lunch seems like so much mush too frequently, looks good but the taste isn't there.

 

I've learned to work around it by making up my own concoctions which helps.

 

On every cruise I've heard people say their cabin was too cold or too warm. Many of them didn't know there is an AC knob in the cabin! Some are in balconies where doors are left open affecting AC in nearby cabins.

 

The pitiful new "shows" are a sorry lot. Watching people march around the showroom with ping pong balls leveled on something is just silly. More conducive to the Lido deck. And having them put them in their butt and waddle to drop in a bucket is just humiliating. Still people go there and watch seeming to find it funny.

 

When people say things like "a bad cruise is better than a work day" I cringe. Cruisers who accept tepid food, poor cleaning on Lido, bad shows and all the rest have allowed the industry to 'just meet standards'. The high end market, like Regent, doesn't have cruiser who will accept downgrading services. Why do we?

[JohnSpo]

I really don't what ship you were on, cause I got off the Sunshine yesterday and everything was awesome... Friendly staff, food was great, A/C was cold in our cabin and public areas... CD Donkey was excellent... We have been on NCL, RCCL and Disney Cruises and both my husband and I thought this cruise has been one of the best... If you are thinking on sailing the Sunshine do not hesitate give it a try.... I had planned on sailing her last October and because of all the false complaints we decided to go else where. Finally decided to go ahead and try the Sunshine this year and glad we did.... We will most definitely sail the Sunshine again.... Do not pay attention to the complainers cause they will never be happy....

 

We'll be getting Sunshine in NYC next year. I look forward to a different ship out of NYC. The mixed reviews of Sunshine are similar to Splendor. So many people have written negative reviews of Splendor. I have been on Splendor 3 times and have had excellent cruises on all 3 trips. I am confident that Sunshine will be excellent also. :cool:

[MACUQUI58]

We'll be getting Sunshine in NYC next year. I look forward to a different ship out of NYC. The mixed reviews of Sunshine are similar to Splendor. So many people have written negative reviews of Splendor. I have been on Splendor 3 times and have had excellent cruises on all 3 trips. I am confident that Sunshine will be excellent also. :cool:

Don't worry you will have an excellent cruise... I was also scared to go on the Sunshine, but glad the did

[Podna's]

We'll be getting Sunshine in NYC next year. I look forward to a different ship out of NYC. The mixed reviews of Sunshine are similar to Splendor. So many people have written negative reviews of Splendor. I have been on Splendor 3 times and have had excellent cruises on all 3 trips. I am confident that Sunshine will be excellent also. :cool:

 

 

I agree. If I would listen to reviews (which I never do) I would've missed out on 2 outstanding Sunshine cruises. We had Jaime for our CD. She was excellent.

[Towel Critter]

I'm a picky cruiser and remember when the food was top notch and service included all the silly little things we miss.

 

Chicken can only be cooked so many ways, seems Indian chefs can't cook fish and frying is the new stand by. Lido buffet food, especially at lunch seems like so much mush too frequently, looks good but the taste isn't there.

 

I've learned to work around it by making up my own concoctions which helps.

 

On every cruise I've heard people say their cabin was too cold or too warm. Many of them didn't know there is an AC knob in the cabin! Some are in balconies where doors are left open affecting AC in nearby cabins.

 

The pitiful new "shows" are a sorry lot. Watching people march around the showroom with ping pong balls leveled on something is just silly. More conducive to the Lido deck. And having them put them in their butt and waddle to drop in a bucket is just humiliating. Still people go there and watch seeming to find it funny.

 

When people say things like "a bad cruise is better than a work day" I cringe. Cruisers who accept tepid food, poor cleaning on Lido, bad shows and all the rest have allowed the industry to 'just meet standards'. The high end market, like Regent, doesn't have cruiser who will accept downgrading services. Why do we?

This is just me, but I prefer to keep a positive attitude when cruising, overlook the small things, and try and have a good experience regardless... within reason. Besides, complaining gets few long term results. The only way to really "speak" to the powers to be at Carnival, and get genuine results is by speaking with your pocket book. When Carnival starts seeing ships sailing with lots of empty rooms, THEN they will make an effort to improve their product. As long as they are easily filling cabins they aren't going to change anything. I'm not saying they currently have a bad product, but some, especially here on CC seem to think so. I do think there is room for improvement in some areas, particularly entertainment. I've never encountered a real problem in other areas, food, service, cleanliness, etc... (OP, I'm not really directing any of my comments at you personally. These are general observations, based on the complaints I see over and over in this forum.) So...to those who are unhappy with Carnival, vacation with a different cruise line for a few years. Seriously. I don't mean that as a snarky remark. This will help all of us out in several ways, one, which I've already mentioned, is sending Carnival a message. When you finally return to Carnival, perhaps you'll find an improved product. It's a win/win for all of us in lots of ways. :)

[love my grandkids]

Cruising on Carnival once had a degree of elegance but that is long gone. Nice that pricing is relatively low but crew has too many people to serve to give the class of service we used to get.

 

Basic reason we will not cruise on Sunshine is we enjoy comedy club and for some reason they decided to make it much smaller than other ships and it doesnt meet the needs of the passengers.

 

We will still cruise on Carnival but finding Princess has a wow factor that is gone from Carnival.

Edited September 12, 2015 by love my grandkids

[crusinpsychRN]

I always have fun on a cruise because I've learned to adapt, do the things I want, don't do the things which have proven not so good.

 

I cruised Legend out of Tampa many times. I was surprised by all the comments on line about how great different foods were that didn't taste so good to me or my table mates. So I went with a new outlook and tried the lasagna again and it was delicious! Something is different here...checked who the chef was and sure enough it was a new person--made all the difference.

[MACUQUI58]

Just got off today. Went to st. Maarten, st. Kitts, p. Rico and grand Turk. Been on about 4 or 5 carnival cruises. This was the worst. Talked to a bunch of people on cruise and they felt the same. One person even named it the self serve ship. I'm not a picky eater but the food was terrible. Also entertainment team wasnot so good. Gemma the comedy manager was not so friendly, her voice was annoying and she kept telling the same story that she was born via a Petri dish. Cruise director was donkey. Had him before but not as cruise director. Never really saw him. We were in inside stateroom on deck 1. Wish I had brought an extension cord, clock that illuminates. Room wasn't very old. Last show on cruise, epic rock, was very good. I will say that even though not my favorite ship, and other little things that happened, cruise Diego by fast. Oh and we did self debark and was supposed to get off at 7:30 but they didn't let us off until 8:30.

We also had self disembark and by 7:30 we were already getting on 528 heading to Orlando... We got off the ship around 7:15...

[rdevine10]

I never reviewed our April Sunshine cruise. It was my least favorite cruise, but we still had a GREAT time!

 

Our biggest issues:

 

-quad cabin layout with the bottom "bunk" aka sofa taking up so much floor space.

 

-lack of pools on the ship. 2 with that many passengers (only 1 for families) was just so tight. Even night swimming was impossible (which we had never had an issue with on our other cruises).

 

Otherwise the ship was beautiful and clean. If we had been kidless the Serenity area was AMAZING. I loved it, but never spent more than 10 min walking around it one evening, taking pictures!!!! :rolleyes:

 

We loved all the food choices, did feel the food was better on our other cruises (especially at the Lido buffet- the chocolate buffet was awful - even according to kids!

 

But, fun is what you make- we had a GREAT time. Someday we might try her again (kidless!!!).

[JennyD1]

We just got off the Sunhine last Sunday and had a wonderful cruise. We thought the food in the dining room was great. We liked the lido buffet for lunch, but not for dinner. Also enjoyed Guy's burgers, the deli, the Asian and Italian restaurant for lunch. Had a great dinner at the steakhouse.

 

I agree that the Comedy Club could have been bigger to accommodate more guests, but they did reruns of the shows, so more people could see them. My only complaint is with the smoke in the Casino. it is very smokey. They need a better air filtration system or another inside area for the smokers to go smoke.

 

We have been on the Sunshine seven times and will be going again next week. We love the ship, the ports, the food, the friendliness of the staff and have always had a fantastic room steward. Can't wait to sail again!!!