Just off the Sunshine on Mother's Day

[kazooxraygirl]

We just got off the Carnival Sunshine yesterday, Mother's Day. It was a very relaxing cruise, but a very confusing ship, to say the least. I read all the reviews before we went so I knew what I was in for. We went out of Port Canaveral, Florida for an 8 day cruise to Aruba, Bonaire and Grand Turk. We had a full ship, but not too many kids. Reading the reviews I knew I had to have lots of patience with the wait staff at the bars. We got the "cheers" program, so we basically bar hopped the whole cruise. The bars were insanely busy the first day, especially up on the lido deck by the pool. We were assigned the late dining to the Sunrise dining room at the back of the ship on the 2nd level. The main way to get to the 2nd level sunrise dining room was through the limelight lounge, which was very impractical since there was usually something going on in the lounge, like karaoke. I felt kinda rude just walking through. We also had to be careful where we went when we were done, because the limelight lounge was closed because of the comedy shows by the time we were done with dinner, so we had to find an alternate way. We ended up just going up one floor to ocean plaza and going wherever we wanted to go. But, if you went down, you had a real maze to try to get around the sunset dining room and the galley. We went on several "hikes" for the first few days, getting to know the ship. Our favorite bar was the Havana Bar because it was at the very back of the ship with a good view and they made good mojitos.

[JaniceB]

Thanks for your report.

[kazooxraygirl]

Sorry, had to do some of the mountain of laundry we have from being gone for almost 10 days. Anyway, where was I??? Oh, favorite bar was the Havana Bar. Until the last day of the cruise, they ran out of mint leaves and couldn't make a mojito. I was so bummed. Nobody could do a mojito like the Havana bar. Anyway, I got over it and ordered something else. Not sure if the "Cheers" beverage program was a deal or not. I kinda felt like I was forced to drink when I didn't really want one to try to make it worth while. It was hard to break even on port days though. I don't know if I would do it again. Our cabin was on deck 8 all the way to the front, the very first one next to the bridge. I was worried at first that that bridge would block our view a lot, but it wasn't the case at all. The bridge extended out of the side a little, but not that much. We waved at the crew members whoever sat in the chair facing our balcony. They were very friendly. I was a little disappointed in the cabin steward. We opted for cleaning of the room in the evening. We also asked that he put a couple of our waters on ice in the evening, which was done, so that was good. The only other thing is that he wouldn't take our dirty glasses that we had sitting out on the counters. These were glasses from alcoholic drinks that were just sitting there. I had to put them outside of our door on the floor for someone to take them. And one day we didn't get clean beach towels for the beach. But, we did get our towel animal every night, did like that! As far as the pool went, we stuck with the Serenity pool each day. I am an early riser so I was up by 6am each day and I went to get coffee and grab a couple of deck chairs at the serenity pool, which was wide open. I would stay on the chairs, as would most other people around the serenity, but there were others who put things on them and didn't come back until like 10 or 11am. The last at sea day, the crew were putting out the stickers that said your things would take be taken in 45 minutes if there wasn't anyone there. I saw them pull things off of multiple chairs. People were even clapping the crew member who was doing this. The people who came back looking for their things were a little upset at not knowing where their things went. I think they took them to the bar area in the serenity area for pick up. We usually only stayed around the pool, which was very busy, until at 1pm or so. We had had enough of the sun and needed a break. I didn't see any kids in the serenity area at all, so it was nice and kinda quiet. (that's not counting the loud adults). We really enjoyed the comedians. They had 3 different comedians that did the same show each day, but they interchanged them enough and also did a lot of 18 and above shows. The availability of seats really depended on how early you went there and what time the show was. The earlier shows seemed to be less busy than the later ones. We weren't too impressed with the piano bar. We couldn't get in most nights, but when we did get in once, I wasn't impressed with the singer. The steakhouse was good too. We did that one night instead of the main dining room. It was worth it, I thought. We didn't do the sushi bar, JiJi's or the Mongolian wok. There was too much to eat that was free, let alone pay for it. The omlettes were good in the morning and I liked the buffet usually. There were no bacon police either. The only down thing about the dining room is that it took forever to be served, we were with one other couple at a 4 top table. I thought the food was good, as long as I didn't have to cook it or clean it up! Most crew members were nice and very talkative, but there were a handful that looked at you like they really didn't care if you were there or not. But, those were few and far between. All in all, we had a great cruise. We just made sure to pack lots of patience!

[OCruisers]

Thanks for your Sunshine report.

You did a great job of describing what you liked as well as what you didn't.

Glad it was "overall" an enjoyable cruise for you! :)

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[JaniceB]

The Serenity area sounds wonderful.

[meatloafsfan]

Thank you for the review.

 

Do you know if the MDR was open on embarkation serving BBQ?

 

thanks.

[kazooxraygirl]

Thank you for the review.

 

Do you know if the MDR was open on embarkation serving BBQ?

 

thanks.

 

I don't know if it was open. Didn't even think of it. We were busy walking around the ship.

[GAHart]

The BBQ was at the taste bar in ocean plaza on embarkation day and was the Same as Guy's Pig and Anchor. It was very tasty.

[tandemcruzr]

Enjoying your review. Did you spend any time at the Alchemy Bar on deck 5 , aft?

 

That's where we always had our before dinner drinks and there were stairs and elevators close by that you could take down to deck 4 right to the entrance of the upper level of the Sunrise Dining Room.

[easyboy]

Glad you had a great cruise!

 

 

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[meatloafsfan]

The BBQ was at the taste bar in ocean plaza on embarkation day and was the Same as Guy's Pig and Anchor. It was very tasty.

 

Thank you! As our cabin is on deck 5, this would make for a great start to the cruise (anything to avoid the Lido buffet area).

[bury me at sea]

Very nice review. The good, the not quite so good, and no ugly my cruise was ruined!

 

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for posting, and happy sailing.

[kazooxraygirl]

Enjoying your review. Did you spend any time at the Alchemy Bar on deck 5 , aft?

 

That's where we always had our before dinner drinks and there were stairs and elevators close by that you could take down to deck 4 right to the entrance of the upper level of the Sunrise Dining Room.

 

We started to get into the habit of sitting at the back of the Ocean Plaza area listening to the bands that played before dinner near the end of the cruise. We did the Alchemy bar once, it was usually packed and their drinks are strong! I thought so, my husband didn't think so. We did the Redfrog pub once in a while too, it was hit or miss. Sometimes busy, sometimes empty.

[momin05]

Thank you for the review.

 

Do you know if the MDR was open on embarkation serving BBQ?

 

thanks.

We were on the April 8 sailing and the mid ship MDR was open for BBQ. There was a sign at the entrance. Maybe they have moved it to the taste bar, which would actually be better I think.