Frisco's 8/12-8/20 Sunshine Revue

[stevefrisco]

Assalamualaikum! This is my first review, I’ve been on these forums for quite some time now and feel it is my duty to start writing about my experiences. A little about me, I’m in my 30s and often travel with my life partner, kids, parents, in-laws, siblings and various friends.

We all prefer to drive instead of fly to embarkation. Thoseof us who are of age love to drink, smoke and gamble. We all love to eat, getrowdy, go to comedy shows and vote Republican. We usually go to beaches orshopping while in port. We typically cruise CCL due to the casino discounts wereceive. I’d like to get back on RCL and other lines in the future but as moreand more of us become platinum, I’m not sure I’ll be able to rally the troopsunless it’s a good deal or we are comped by a land based casino.

 

 

At the moment, I don’t plan to do photo revues. They seem totake a long time and there are so many good ones out there that it seemsduplicitous at this point. Though they say a picture says a thousand words, Iget a lot more from prose revues. My goal is to have my revue posted within aday and be as thorough and objective as possible. I appreciate all of thereviewers but don’t want to be one of those people who takes two months to do arevue.

 

 

I have a few cruises coming up and hopefully with some practice will develop my own template for revues. I hope you all find this exercise insightful but hope you don’t let it affect your decision to try a ship, itinerary, etc.

 

Clouds on Objectivity

 

We (my sibling and I) took this cruise about 2.5 month safter what we both thought was our best cruise experience ever. This is the shortest duration between sailings I’ve ever had. Further, I have another cruise coming up in a couple months. As a result, it is entirely possible thatI was not as excited for this cruise as I could have been. Maybe my attitude wasn’t right going in because I knew I’d be on another ship soon. We had a couple friends come with us as well in another cabin whereas we usually cruise with a group of around 10-14 people so that may have reduced my enjoyment.

 

 

I lost a bit in the casino. In no way was it the most I’veever lost on a ship or on land. But, a cruise is always more fun when you come home a winner. This may have been my smallest loss so I’m not sure this had much to do with any negative perceptions but is worth mentioning.

 

This was also my second time on the Sunshine, my first time doing a ship twice. Before this cruise, I would rate my first Sunshine experience as my worst cruise. When I say worst, I’m comparing MY EXPERIENCES. My worst cruise is still better than a week at work or having something crappy happen in real life. Hell it’s better than most land vacations or weekend getaways I’ve been a party to. I think this trip overall is one of my bottom experiences but still pretty fun and economical for me. I believe I got on the boat for under $300 with transport to port due to the casino discount. If this were my first cruise or if I’d paid a great deal of money, I might be disappointed. Maybe I need to stay off here or cruise less to get the novelty back.

 

This is also the first time I’ve ever missed a port of call on a ship. I know it is out of CCL’s control but there is no way to get overthe disappointment of missing the port we were most looking forward to. St.Thomas and Grand Turk were dirtier than normal, no doubt because of the storms.I had a good time at both but the ports were a low point this cruise.

Edited September 1, 2017 by stevefrisco

[stevefrisco]

The Good

The food was excellent this cruise overall. The MDR batted about .950. I had one lobster tail (of six) that had a mushy, queer texture.The shrimp with the lobster were flat out better quality than the Pride in May and prepared better. The tomatoes in my Capresse Salad the last night looked and tasted bad but that is probably to be expected. The lunch version was delicious.

 

 

Every time I had eggs benedict, they were delicious and the sauce was perfect unlike some experiences when the sauce is thick and hard and the egg not runny. I had them in both the dining room and Lido. The frog leg recipe changed, the sauce has some kind of thickening agent that makes me not enjoy them as much. I enjoy frog legs (hunt them myself when in season, wild is better)and this is disappointing but I’ll still order. The entre/side pairings are weird in my opinion sometimes. The cornbread crusted chicken was good but would have been helped by mash potatoes and gravy which wasn’t paired or featured as a side.

 

 

I had my first flat iron steak. My dad knows a lot about farming and farm products so has a low opinion about them from that perspective and always makes off comment when people order them. A lot of people complain about them on here complain about them being inferior as well. I tried it and loved it. I think I'll be ordering at least one per cruise now.

 

I was absolutely blown away by the lido deck desserts. They usually look delicious and taste terrible but this cruise was an anomaly, hands downthe best I’ve ever had. The fresh fruit was also great all week.

 

I only had Guys twice, outstanding as always. JiJis wok at lunch was good. We wanted the sushi but didn’t get around to it until the last night and we smelled fish as we approached so we decided not to get it. The smell could have been from something else but I don’t want to smell that whenI’m getting sushi.

 

 

The big winner for the week besides desserts was the tacos at the Blue Iguana. I’ve been hating on the burritos for some time because I don’t like the tortillas and think the rice is bad. I finally decided to try the tacos (all of them) and they were amazing!!! The tortillas were fresh and delicious and the toppings and meat were on point. The lines at both Guys and Blue Iguana were short to reasonable but JiJis was super long after the first day. The staff at all of them were nice.

 

 

The Havana Bar had small food set up from time to time. I didn’t quite understand the pattern of when the food was out but it was delicious every time. The Taste Bar was good as always. I appreciate that they put food there to ease some congestion on the Lido deck at lunch and breakfast.

 

 

 

The only reason I wouldn’t rate the food outstanding is theroom service. The food runners were nice and fast, but the food other than thefruit was a disaster and the free menu is really lacking. I got an upset stomach after eating a BLT once which has never happened on a ship. It also took forever to get through to room service. Pizza lines were long so maybe people just ate in their rooms.

Edited September 1, 2017 by stevefrisco

[stevefrisco]

The Meh

The check-in process was probably the longest or second longest I’ve experienced. I think we have been pretty lucky by getting there early, having FTTF or platinum perks in the past. It took us almost an hour and a half from being dropped off at the pier to getting our embarkation picture taken. Any longer and this would have been in the bleh category.

 

 

I think the staff was average overall. I’m used to developing relationships with the staff and am disappointed to say that I only connected with a couple people. I know that the staff is a lot more stretched than they used to be, but they didn’t seem as engaging or happy as in cruises past, especially the first few days. The weight room people were nicer than normal and our service staff were awesome (see more later) which saved this area from being a bleh. Other than the casino and some in the Red Frog Pub, I think the bar staff was disinterested.

 

 

Our room steward did a meh job. These guys and gals have a lot to do and work tirelessly so I’m willing to cut some slack. Our guy was nice enough, but not as engaging as in the past. He learned our names and always said hi in the halls. My DS had a spill that needed immediate attention to avoid a stain, we asked our steward how to get the laundry done and he suggested we just do it ourselves. DS was willing and able to pay to have it done and was disappointed to have to throw in a load of laundry. Our room was also not ready at 1:30 when it was supposed to be. This was disappointing because we usually like to sleep after driving to catch the ship. Finally, we had a big hair in our shower that was there when we came to the room and wasn’tcleaned up until the 4th day. The hair was a length, colour and texture that it could not have belonged to either of us and for the first time ever we didn’t tip our steward extra at the end of the cruise as a result of this.

 

 

 

Carnival needs to invest in more staff in my opinion. The servers are always rushed and appear overworked. The room stewards are the same way. Guest services lines always take 15-20 minutes and getting them to answer when calling about an issue was almost impossible. Room service also took 5-10 minutes to get through to someone each time.

Edited September 1, 2017 by stevefrisco

[stevefrisco]

The Bleh

 

 

The first thing that was terrible about this ship was our stateroom. The price was right but there was a big section of the sub-floor missing. The section was covered up with carpet which made it look even but when you walked over it, it was a tripping hazard.I twisted my ankle (thankfully not severely) a couple times the first few days before I got used to it. The bathroom needed paint retouched. The door frame had a rotted out portion and all the hinges were loose.

 

 

The worst part about the room was the lack of air conditioning. Our room was 85 degrees until the fourth day after calling guest services several times and reporting the issue to the steward. Even at the price, this is unacceptable to me. I have often assumed people were being dramatic about their heat/cooling issues but having experienced this firsthand, it was horrible.

 

 

The muster drill was terrible on this ship. I don’t go to them every time and am probably going to stop going again after this one. The CD was on the speaker 30 minutes before it started and didn’t stop talking it seemed like for the next hour and a half. The muster drill took way too long as always. I know this isn’t all Carnival’s fault and have wrote to my elected officials in Washington and called in a favour with President Trump regarding the issue. The imposition simply does not justify the lives saved from the process.

 

 

What is Carnival’s fault is the way it trains it staff about the drill. The people this time at our station were flat out rude. I’ve never heard that phones were not permitted during the drill. While waiting for what seemed like eternity, I tried to send some work emails. One of the staff members rudely admonished me for having my phone and used me as an example about not having phones in front of hundreds of people. I’ve got thick skin and quick wit so I was able to say something rude back but other people would have been appalled, stressed or had anxiety in that situation. What made me most annoyed about this is there were countless people openly drinking when the CD said ad nausum that no drinks were permitted. I didn’t say anything about this during my interaction because 1) I’m not a snitch and 2) think people should be able to drink. But don’t come at me with made up rules when you’re not enforcing your stated rules.

 

 

The DJs really sucked on this cruise. I enjoyed the liquid lounge and other dance events but it was despite the DJs. They literally just played the same songs every night which consisted of 10 year old or greater mainstream New York rap. I love New York rap but play something current and don’t pander. I heard no 2 Chains all week despite his album dropping the week before and being full of club bangers. I know they have censored versions. It was obvious to me that these guys weren’t even NY rap fans because they played hardly any Nas and only played whack Jay-Z songs. I don’t think I heard anything from the Black Album or Illmatic the entire week. The one DJ was really nice but theother guy JTorcher had some type of complex going.

 

 

 

The last thing that was really bad was the lines getting back on the ship. For some reason it took us 1.5 hours to get back on the ship in St. Thomas. Other lines moved much faster. My guess is we (and hundreds of others) were put in the handicap line. The handicap line was super slow for obvious reasons and they began letting people with kids cut in front of the crowd. I don’t know how to fix it other than having separate lines for handicap/those with children but I hope it gets fixed. Before I get flamed, I am not complaining about the kids or the handicap people, I know they do need and deserve special treatment. I am complaining that 2/3 of the ablebodied people without children got put in a line that moved very quickly and we and the other 1/3 got put in another line without being given the option to switch up or rearrange.

Edited September 1, 2017 by stevefrisco

[stevefrisco]

The Woo Hoo!!!!

The entertainment was excellent this cruise. The comedians were the best four we’ve ever had. I skipped JR McCollum because I’ve seen him on my past two cruises but I know his sets are great. The Canadian guy was really funny as was the guy who opened for Cher and the comic at the end who did the songs.

 

 

The Magician was superb. I loved his shows, they were some of the best I’ve seen though I’m not really a big magic person outside of TV specials and corporate events. What I liked most was that he did workshops where he taught tricks. I missed one of them but the others were great. He was a very nice guy, Jackson Rayne was his name if you’re interested in seeing his stuff.

 

 

We saw one show, I can’t remember the name of it but it was good. It seems like CCL is trying to get away from the traditional dance/musical shows and doing more Comedy and Magic. I like that they are branching out as I’m not sure the traditional shows are a big hit with Gen X and below.

 

 

 

The last but definitely not least great part of this cruise was Koko our server. We had your time dining but had him every night but lobster night. This guy was amazing and the best staff member I’ve ever interacted with on any line. He was a great server and offered great recommendations which obviously is nice. But the guy was an excellent people reader, he knew he could joke with us from the first night on. Our group are very laisse faire about pretty much everything and loved his jokes and funny actions he did. He told some hilarious stories and was just a pleasure to be around. Carnival has an excellent employee in Koko and I hope they keep him around and promote him. Every time I saw him he was busting his tail AND having fun. I just can’t say enough about this guy and if I owned a restaurant I’d pay him big bucks to be in charge of everything. He is Maitre’ D (estimated spelling) material.

Edited September 1, 2017 by stevefrisco

[stevefrisco]

In retrospect

Normally, I do a lot of the art events. These are getting old and I didn’t do any this cruise. Looking back, I think I experienced more this cruise by sitting these out and plan to do so in the future. There’s much better exhibitions and museums at home to check out.

 

 

I am done with the free room service in the evening. The menu just isn’t that good and it is probably quicker to wait in line for pizza.

 

 

Like every cruise, I wish I’d done more day time lido deck activities. I just don’t get excited for them in the moment for some reason and always feel like I missed out when talking to people. I want to do more sail away stuff as well.

 

 

I love Any Time Dining, this was my first time and I will push for it every time now. It may be more difficult with a big group but I liked the freedom it offered. Strangely we always ate at about the same time.

 

 

Carnival needs to do something to get poker players to playor just remove the tables. I don’t think I’m even going to bother putting money on my poker account on my next cruise. The rake is way too high, the tables seem to be rigged to have more action and the tables are never full or even close to full.

 

 

Carnival has wised up to people using gift cards and withdrawing money for free in the casino. I withdrew $500 the first night (after playing a bit on a VP machine). I went to withdraw again on face up blackjack night and was told that my account would be shut down if I put more money on my slot account than I wanted to gamble. I was pretty pissed since I was using the money to gamble in the casino but a rule is a rule. I quit gambling in the casino that night (as I am free to do) and didn’t play again the rest of the cruise. They only got about $400 from me and I was prepared to lose $2000 for the cruise and up to $1000 at face up blackjack. They missed out. I think they are being pretty shortsighted with the 3% fee they charge to buy chips on sail and sign. I won’t pay it and won't be bringing thousands of dollars in greenbacks to we may be at an impasse.

 

I’m going to keep a better sleep schedule on the next cruise. I say this every cruise but I’d like to get up for some of the fitness classes and have my own workouts done earlier in the day. It’s tough to drink all day if you don’t start in the morning and I didn’t drink all day once on this cruise.

 

 

I loved the chess meet ups. I’ve never seen this before but it was cool. There weren’t any good players (surprisingly since NYC is a hotbed) but it was cool to get a few games in.

 

I may revisit my decision to not do cheers in the near future. I had it once and wasn't impressed. Usuaully, I either get my DOU card fast or never (this cruise). I am getting an affinity for the specialty coffee drinks. I’m also starting to hate the hassle of bringing my own pop and wine. Finally, I will always smuggle some stuff until CCL gets Hpnotiq because I need something to mix with my Hennessey regardless of whether or not I get cheers.

 

 

Feel free to flame and troll, this is a free speech temple.

Edited September 1, 2017 by stevefrisco

[Keith1010]

You put a lot of effort in writing this very detailed review.

 

Congratulations on putting this together.

 

Keith

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[matt082600]

Thanks for your review!!!

[erewhon]

Thanks for reviewing your cruise.

[meatloafsfan]

Have you thought of setting up a line of credit with the casino before you leave? You wouldn't need to bring loads of cash or worry about taking out money at the machines.

 

Great review btw. I think the Sunshine is tops in food category too. We didn't have air conditioning issues with our cabin in May, I think that's luck of the draw on any ship. It seems like overall you had a good time just not stellar.

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[jimbo5544]

Nice review, thanks for posting it, enjoyed the way you broke it out.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Jamman54]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! :cool:

[dogbert's mom]

Enjoyed your review. You made me laugh a couple of times.

[estillcrew]

Thank you for your honest review! I will be sailing her in 199 days!

[mouche]

Thanks for sharing, we are on the Sunshine later next year!

[Clarea]

Excellent review, thanks!

[stevefrisco]

Thanks for all of the acknowledgement and compliments, very unnecessary but appreciated. Feels great to have some of my favorite posters and reviewers taking a peak at my first attempt. Hopefully the next one is better, I'm going to take better notes and lead with the positives instead of negatives. After rereading, I spent a lot more time describing negative things and not providing as much detail for the positives even though as Meatsloafs fan said, I had a good time, just not as good as I've had before. I hope I didn't come off bad, I was really trying to be as objective as I could but that is hard for us humans.

 

@Meatloafsfan that is a good idea that I may look into if I can make it work. I made a few big scores that I got paid off in cash at certain points in my gaming career so I usually just gamble with that $$$. If there is a way to deposit that money into a bank without doing a KYC form and wire it to CCL, that might be a decent method as well. I know that works when I go to Vegas.

[Mary49]

Can you tell me who the Rock and Roll Band is on the ship? I hope they have one. Thanks.

[jordanaire]

Thank you for your honest review! I will be sailing her in 199 days!

What sailing are you on? We're on the April 6th sailing

[pokergirl34]

Thanks for the review! I appreciate all of the info since we'll be on Sunshine next. I also get more out of succinct written reviews rather than photo reviews.

[stevefrisco]

Can you tell me who the Rock and Roll Band is on the ship? I hope they have one. Thanks.

 

I cannot remember what they called themselves but I was impressed with their ability to change their sound every night to meet the theme. They played some great versions of Sublime songs as well as Motown, Jazz and country inspired stuff. I worked out with the bass guitar player one day and he was a hell of a nice guy. We played a lot of shuffle board at Red Frog and loved hearing them.

 

The Piano Bar guy was Roddy. I should have mentioned in my in retrospect section that I wish I'd spent more time in there as I really like his personality and ability. He really made me happy saying a toast when he apologized for his accent then he caught himself and said you know what I don't apologize for my accent, I speak 5 languages!! That was awesome in my book. Unfortunately we only did a few half hour stints in the piano bar. One day there were some other patrons that were just a bit too much to handle and the other day we were on our way to the magic show. Roddy was great though, I did cardio by him one day and he was a nice guy.

 

I think CCL always has some damn good musicians so it's tough to stand out in my opinion.

Edited September 6, 2017 by stevefrisco

[meatloafsfan]

Thanks for all of the acknowledgement and compliments, very unnecessary but appreciated. Feels great to have some of my favorite posters and reviewers taking a peak at my first attempt. Hopefully the next one is better, I'm going to take better notes and lead with the positives instead of negatives. After rereading, I spent a lot more time describing negative things and not providing as much detail for the positives even though as Meatsloafs fan said, I had a good time, just not as good as I've had before. I hope I didn't come off bad, I was really trying to be as objective as I could but that is hard for us humans.

 

@Meatloafsfan that is a good idea that I may look into if I can make it work. I made a few big scores that I got paid off in cash at certain points in my gaming career so I usually just gamble with that $$$. If there is a way to deposit that money into a bank without doing a KYC form and wire it to CCL, that might be a decent method as well. I know that works when I go to Vegas.

https://www.oceanplayersclub.com/vip-services/apply-for-casino-credit.aspx

 

Above is the link to apply for casino credit. I'm a slot player so Carnival makes it crazy easy for me to just charge to my Sign and sail card.

 

I think sometimes people on these boards jump on any criticism as "the worst cruise ever" instead of just "Meh, it was good but could have been better. " I faced that after my Royal and Celebrity cruises. I have a good time on every cruise, it doesn't mean that they are all equally good and that I don't have criticisms of even my most favourite cruise.

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[stevefrisco]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into this! I've got good credit so assuming there isn't some insane income requirement I may give it a go. It is a little disappointing that I won't be able to get the fuel perks on my gambling that the gift cards offer. I guess I don't do that in Vegas so what do I expect?

 

Well said re: criticism. I know people engage in some hyperbole both positively and negatively...and we experience things like vacations pretty strongly one way or another due to the cost and anticipation associated. My biggest gripe with this online community is when people get mad at someone for saying something negative. I've said it a million times before(hyperbole) - it's called cruise critic for a reason!

[evandbob]

I won't sail the Sunshine, I tried Destiny 9 yrs ago and that was enough for me on that ship, but I read your review anyway. I appreciate your breakdown of the good, the meh and the bleh.....I just want to point out to you that long musters get blamed on the finding the passengers who don't show up, so if that's what you choose to do, you're extending that problem.

 

I've usually heard no cellphones, no drinking during muster, and I've seen the crew shut down some folks who ignore this warning. I've also seen them give up enforcing it after a while because so many people do transgress.

 

If you want to be part of the solution to long musters, you can't be part of the problem. JMO, you already expressed yours.