Sunshine review 4 night from Charleston May 26, 2016

[bingo3]

Just off the Sunshine for a 4 night cruise out of Charleston to Nassau, Bahamas. This cruise was with myself, hubby and our 2 grandchildren, 6 and 8 years old. I chose this one because I have wanted to take the kids while they would still be in the same Camp Carnival age group and before their 1 yr. old brother is old enough to know he's left behind! Charleston is a short 2 hours away and the Sunshine is a much larger ship than the Ecstasy, that is normally sailing from Charleston. I don’t typically like small ships. Alternately, I did not want to drive 7 or more hours with the kids for a FL port and larger ship, so this rare Sunshine cruise from Charleston fit the bill perfectly.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the gate at 11:00am and cars were already being admitted, we went through a line to drop off our luggage, then weaved around where there was a bottle neck for a while, then on to pay for parking, then weave all around and go back out the lot and in again to park. My husband thinks they did all that to keep the lines from getting too long. We then walked to an area to get on a bus to the ship. We did not have that long of a wait, there were several busses lined up and as one filled another pulled up. From the time we got to the gate and onto the ship (through registration, pictures, security, etc.) it was 1:00pm. It did not truly seem like it was that long to get through all of that though. Everything moved smoothly. We asked a woman if the rooms were ready yet and she told us we could go check. Ours was ready, so we left our carryons and went to eat. None of the lines we were in were too long and it didn’t take too long to get through registration, etc. It may have been a little quicker if we were at a higher cruise level or paid for FTTF, but all in all, it was not bad for us and our room was ready!

 

Having read all the reviews for a year, and you all being able to do the same, I will not give as much detail. I did not find the ship as bad as some make it out to be, but I am also not negative by nature and enjoy any cruise. I go with an open mind and know what to expect in advance. Yes, we did find it difficult to navigate parts of the ship because you cannot get through all the decks from one end to the other, but we eventually learned how to go up or down a level, walk around and go back up or down. The map I picked up (readily available on the Guest Services counter, don’t have to wait in line) to help navigate the ship was very much appreciated and useful. We also took advantage of the posted deck maps at the elevators.

 

We had two outside connecting cabins, which gave us more space than cramming 4 of us in the same room. We could also put the kids to bed earlier if desired. The cost was only about $200.00 more total than if I had paid for 4 of us to be in the same room, and that was worth it to me for the extra space. It also gave us 2 bathrooms. I like lower levels and middle of ship, just to be safe from movement and I have to say, we did not experience much movement on this ship, even in the front and back and despite Tropical Storm Bonnie in the area. I could see white caps one day, but did not feel anything differently.

 

Despite the storm, we had great weather and I could not ask for more! It was sunny most of the trip. In Nassau, we had a couple of short showers that passed quickly.

 

Food is subjective and I am not a foodie. Food is plentiful, it is not gourmet, but I didn’t expect it to be. We did not go hungry and I did not have to cook or clean, so was satisfied. We ate most breakfasts and lunches in the Lido buffet, one lunch from the Italian restaurant and the kids had a couple of tacos from Blue Iguana. There were longer lines at Guys and the Burittos, so we passed on those with kids in tow. Lines at the buffet moved quickly for the most part. I just don't let things like small crowds bother me and use some patience. We never had trouble finding seating back in the Havana bar area and got right by a window most days. We ate all dinners in the Sunrise restaurant, early 6:00pm time slot. The only thing I found odd here was there was no children’s menu. Our head waiter said there were no printed ones, but the kids could have hamburger, hot dog, etc. Most of our meals there were 1.5 hours long and kids get restless. It may have been nice to have the menu and crayons to keep them busy some of the time. They ordered some items from the adult menu and ordered hotdog, hamburger or chicken nuggets the other times. Our wait staff; head waiter and two assistants were excellent and attentive. They worked hard to keep many tables happy. Food came out in the order it was ordered and they remembered who got what. There was the fun “showtime” each evening, which my grands enjoyed very much. One of the assistant waiters made each child origami from a dollar bill (a ring and a shirt) and they were thrilled. The staff were all friendly and smiling all the time. I realize everyone has different personalities and not all staff are going to be outgoing. As an introvert myself, I can understand this.

 

I had not told the kids about the towel animals, so the first night, they each grabbed them up before I could say a word and they promptly fell apart! LOL! They learned not to touch them after that. My granddaughter went to the towel folding session and enjoyed that. Our Stateroom attendant, Bagus, was very attentive and serviced our room twice daily. We had ice each time, even though I only requested it for the evenings. He was excellent.

 

We went over the Camp Carnival schedule the first evening and the kids chose the activities they wanted to participate in. They made T-shirts one session, which is a nice souvenir and no extra charge. They also made very nice memory books. They did the Build a bear workshop. Most of the animal choices were $24.00 and extra outfits were $10.00. Both kids slept with their animals the remainder of the cruise.

 

We did not have the towel animal extravaganza on the pool deck this cruise (not to my knowledge anyway), maybe because only a 4 night, I don’t know, but was looking forward to that. Oh well, next time!

 

The one main pool is small, so don’t plan on doing any swimming, it was usually overrun with older kids, my two did not swim much because kids were too rambunctious. They did enjoy the waterworks, the smaller slides for young kids and then they finally braved the large slides the last 2 days and loved them. The deck chairs were pretty full most of the time and the serenity area filled up quickly as well. If you want a good seat or spot, I guess you have to get out there VERY early. I had no trouble finding a chair to sit at and watch the kids at Waterworks. Though shade is rare! I already knew from other reviews these areas would be crowded, and frankly, they have been on any ship I have sailed, including some of the largest ships.

 

We did not watch any of the nightly outdoor movies, but the screen was nice and large and loud enough for all to hear. The only production show we got to was EPIC Rock and the kids especially enjoyed that. My husband too. I’m not really a rock fan, but appreciate their talent, the costumes and stage work. The cast came out afterwards and took pictures. My grands thought that was awesome.

 

Our beds were very comfortable and so was the air in the room. No trouble keeping it cold. The water was hot and the pressure was great. We did not smell any bad smells throughout our cruise and the only smoke I smelled was when we had to walk through the casino to get around and to another level.

 

There are numerous outdoor showers available in the pool/waterworks areas, which I have not seen on another ship (I have only sailed on 2 small Carnival ships and 2 large RCCL and one large NCL). The hand washing stations and Purell dispensers are numerous and around all eating venues as well.

 

The cruise Director, Emma, was very enthusiastic and fun. Anytime I saw her, she seemed to truly be enjoying herself and I love her British accent of course! All of the entertainment staff I saw were very good at what they were doing. The Camp Carnival staff were also great.

 

The only thing that was a pain to me was the photo section. I never did find some of our photos and got tired of looking for them, which may have been for the best financially! I normally do not buy them, because to me they are too expensive. But, since this was possibly a once in a lifetime cruise I wanted some with the Grands. I ended up buying ten for 150.00! one was 4 x 9 and the rest 5 x 7. I came home and ordered a total of 1020 (many duplicates) 4 x 6 digital prints I took with my camera for $102.00! I was also able to make copies of the 10 Carnival prints for family (52 copies for 20.00). You can print off a release at the Carnival website, but no one asked to see it. I wish they had a better way to find and purchase photos. I would prefer a digital method and print my own in the sizes I want. Like I said, if it had not been the grands, I would not have purchased any for those prices. There’s a lot of waste too, so many of the printed photos go in the trash, gracious! A lot of wasted ink and paper!!

 

Since we had the grands, there were a lot of things we did not do on this cruise we normally would have without them, but that was ok, it was only 4 days and the trip was for them. It definitely was not relaxing as we stayed very busy and young children are a handful for us older folks!

 

In Nassau, we decided to do the day passes at the British Colonial Hilton, not far from the ship. It took us about 20 minutes to walk there because of getting through all the crowds of people coming off the ships and getting through all the “merchants”. I think it only took us about 10 minutes to get back to the pier area. The Hilton was very nice, great loungers, pool area and beach area. Very calm and nice for kids, but forget snorkeling, etc., not a good spot for those things. But, my granddaughter did find a conch shell (with conch inside) while swimming, and was thrilled, we took pictures and she put it back in the ocean! The day passes include towels and vouchers for food/beverage ($40.00 per adult, $20.00 per child). The waiters come to you at the pool or on the beach and take orders and bring everything to you as well as pick it up. Tips are included within the voucher and I guess if you go over the voucher amount, they charge it to your credit card. I think we left with about $20.00 still on our vouchers. The only thing I would suggest is a children’s menu, the servings are way too large for kids and a lot of waste. I could not even eat it all! We went through Resort for a Day for the passes. You pay a deposit and the rest at the hotel front desk. The hotel is behind Senor Frogs and before you get to Junkanoo Beach.

 

We did the Seuss at Sea breakfast the last sea day. They had one at 8:30 and one at 9:45. The room was decorated nicely and 4 characters came out for pictures (Carnival takes those). The food was good, but again, portions for kids were too large and wasted. I loved my steak and eggs though and I think they serve that daily in the dining rooms. Best steak I’ve had in a long time, juicy and tender. It was $5.00 per person, not a bad deal at all. The kids also received a booklet with coloring and other activities. The dining staff were excellent. I highly recommend this breakfast if you have kids. I also suggest if you’re on a tight budget and have more than one child, because of the expense, have them take group shots with the characters. Then you can just be torn between buying 4! Oh, and we did not know we could only enter the dining room at one entrance and of course, we were at the wrong one along with another couple! They told us to go around, which of course meant going down a level walking around and up again, but it was fine, they were still checking people in. I had made reservations by phone the first day on the ship. The number was in the funtimes. Highly recommend this if you have kids.

 

My grands also enjoyed the Seuss parade and storytime.

 

The Funtimes is a smaller, trifold version. Small print as well. I downloaded the Hub app before the trip, but did not use it much. I did pay for the social media package for one day ($5.00), to send facebook massages and pics to the kid’s parents. Well worth it. We could use our phones in Nassau, so I did not need it that day. I used the onboard Kiosk to load two Carnival gift cards to my account and to check my account. They also put a receipt under our door the last night.

 

The only time I used Guest Services was to get a replacement muster station band for my granddaughter (hers came off sometime in Nassau) and to ask for our debarkation tags to be changed to an earlier time. I did not have to wait too long in lines either time. They were all attentive and efficient.

 

Debarkation: We were given tags with number 34, which was the last or almost last time off the ship. I went and traded for number 14 at guest services, which would have been about 9:00. We put our luggage out by 11:00pm the night before. We got up and left the cabin around 7:30 to eat, we took everything with us, gave our steward extra tip and went up to Lido. It was not as crowded as I expected. We headed to the Liquid Lounge around 8:00am to wait on our departure time, but when we got to the area on deck 3, we directed right off the ship. The attendant said they were running ahead, when we asked. The lines were not long and we did not wait long to get to the part where you pick up your luggage. Section 14 was right in front where we entered the room and I found our luggage quickly. We elected to use a porter to get through customs quicker and to help since we had the kids and it would have been more difficult. It is worth it to me to pay them the extra money to walk right past everyone in lines, go right through customs and straight to a bus. There were also porters available to help get your luggage to your car when you exited the busses in the parking areas. Took us no time to the parking lot and were on our way home by 9:00am! Best debarkation ever!

 

We did not use any of the bars, so cannot comment on that or the casino. I also did not shop much this trip. I walked through the gift shops, but that was about it. I had ordered water and some photo albums, a t-shirt, a beach bag package, etc. through the onboard shops and that was all in our room when we arrived. We did not go to Cherry on top, or the Shake Spot. We did not have time or the need to go to the Warehouse: games, video, skeeball, etc. The Grands stayed busy enough without it. My grandson played some video games at Camp Carnival and enjoyed those. The Grands really kept us/me busy and pretty much dictated our schedule. The next cruise will be more relaxing and just my hubby and me!

 

Overall, we had a great cruise, the ship was very clean and staff were always working to keep it that way. I also did not witness any unruly behavior, which I understand is typical on shorter cruises, not to say there wasn’t some, but I did not witness it. Most everyone seemed in control of themselves. Everyone I saw was polite, let wheelchairs onto elevators, spoke to each other, etc. Of course, Charleston is in the south and we are a friendly bunch!

 

That’s our cruise experience. Great memories made with our Grands. I would recommend the Sunshine. I don't dwell on crowds, I know beforehand it will be crowded. I am sure the bigger ships have more amenities, but I could not find much wrong with the Sunshine. Just go with an open mind, good attitude and patience and you will enjoy yourself!

 

I tried posting this in the review section and got some error message, so put it here as well, just in case! I will answer any questions that I can.

Debbie

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Thank you for the review!

 

Kim

[beacha]

Great perspective. Thanks, Debbie!

[allbap]

Great review

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[bobsfamily]

Nice review, amazing that more people don't use the porters in Charleston! We walk off and catch an Uber home but at other ports I always look for a porter, no brainer.

[oceanqueen101]

Thanks for a lovely to the point review. DH and I will be onboard with DD age6 and DS age 7. Did the grands go to CC daily? What were some of the activities my 2 will get very board without active group activities as they are pretty high strung.

[mtsnd1900]

Thank you for the review. I have been on Sunshine, loved it, and am going back on it in October from NYC to CA - looking forward to it!

 

What was your impression with the Port of Charleston? I went down for a day to take a look at it and tour the facilities - hopefully they are able to move forward with the expansion in the near future.

 

I highly encourage people to sail form Charleston, it is perhaps one of the best home ports around - with lots to do, and a reasonable cost city to spend a few days in. Unfortunately, Carnival only puts the Ecstasy there for now but I am happy to see the Sunshine making its way up the coast and home porting there for a few sailings anyway - would be great if they moved it there permanently!

[MAZ100]

Hi

 

do you happen to have your Entertainment Show schedule from your 4 day cruise or remember what time the Shows were everyday. (Motor City, latin nights, epic rocks, studio VIP

 

I will be on a 4 day cruise and curious to know what time the shows are so I know how to plan my days

 

thanks