Carnival Sunrise 12 days

[Hsmama]

Considering this cruise- it’s 12 days  out of nyc.... but not sure it’s right for us... 2nd time on  cruise, looking for peace and relaxation while touring... reviews here seem to be mixed,and all say crowded and not peaceful. Is there a difference in experiences between a short cruise on this ship cruise line vs a longer 12 day trip? Any opinions? 1st cruise was HAL and we loved that.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, Hsmama said:

Considering this cruise- it’s 12 days  out of nyc.... but not sure it’s right for us... 2nd time on  cruise, looking for peace and relaxation while touring... reviews here seem to be mixed,and all say crowded and not peaceful. Is there a difference in experiences between a short cruise on this ship cruise line vs a longer 12 day trip? Any opinions? 1st cruise was HAL and we loved that.

A Carnival cruise and a HAL cruise have a couple of things in common, both on a ship and owned by the same company.  Short cruise with have a more party atmosphere, but Carnival is the FUN ships.  HAL is sedate compared to Carnival.   That said, you will not find HAL sailing regularly out of New York.  You will find more people on the Sunrise than you would on any HAL ship.  We relax just fine on our 35+ cruises on Carnival, but would need to know more before recommending whether to go or not go.

Edited December 2, 2019 by jimbo5544

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

Whether it's right for you really would depend on what it was that you liked on your first cruise. All the cruise lines (mainstream) are somewhat different (distinct), but also more similar than not. 

 

So, if you ask about which cruise lines will be equal or better than your HAL cruise in "whatever aspects you enjoyed previously", then you will get more than enough opinions on whatever you are looking for. 

 

One thing for sure is that the longer the cruise, the fewer the families will be on board. That might provide a quieter crowd. Also, while longer cruises tend to appeal to an older crowd, Carnival promotes itself as the "fun ships". I would say that on the whole you will find things very similar except perhaps the average age of the passengers and even that would depend on chance.

 

As I said, ask specific questions on what you would be hoping to find. Re reading your post again, if all you were looking for was whether there would be places on the ship where you would be able to sit in private, the answer would be of course. They are large ships, if you want to find a secluded spot it would be no problem. It just might not be where you wanted to be. Same with lounge areas on the ship. Sure you can find completely empty areas, but it might an empty bar with nothing around. It will depend on what you want.

[E@syPe@zy]

Is it the Panama Canal cruise in October 2020?

It will be a quieter sailing than a shorter cruise.  I've done the Panama Canal cruise, partial and it was an older crowd.  I see the cruise on 10/19/20 is full transit.  That will be a great cruise.  I don't think you will much of a problem with it being crowded and noisy.  Go and enjoy!  

I have found that a lot of cruises that embark in one city and disembark in another are less crowded, due to the expense of airfare.  Just know that your taxes and port fees are more expensive on a Panama Canal cruise.  It's expensive for the ships to go through the canal.  I would love to do the full transit!

[jdemps]

I have to believe the bad reviews about crowding are from people that sailed prime family time in Summer so most cabins are at max capacity.  I think number of days & destination has an impact on crowds too.  Take some noise cancelling headphones and it will be easy to find a quiet spot.  Good luck planning.  

[shof515]

21 minutes ago, jdemps said:

I have to believe the bad reviews about crowding are from people that sailed prime family time in Summer so most cabins are at max capacity.  

 

I sailed the Sunrise back in June for 10 days and my sailing was crowded. I noticed many design flaws with the ship that caused the crowding, it also does not help that carnival increased capacity by adding additional cabins. The photo gallery setup on the sunrise is the worse of the carnival fleet, very small area and can not handle a large amount of people 

[Hsmama]

9 hours ago, E@syPe@zy said:

Is it the Panama Canal cruise in October 2020?

It will be a quieter sailing than a shorter cruise.  I've done the Panama Canal cruise, partial and it was an older crowd.  I see the cruise on 10/19/20 is full transit.  That will be a great cruise.  I don't think you will much of a problem with it being crowded and noisy.  Go and enjoy!  

I have found that a lot of cruises that embark in one city and disembark in another are less crowded, due to the expense of airfare.  Just know that your taxes and port fees are more expensive on a Panama Canal cruise.  It's expensive for the ships to go through the canal.  I would love to do the full transit!

Yes that's the one.....  Thanks for your opinion.... I was kind of hoping that due to the length and the two different ports, it might attract less of a party crowd and more of a sightseeing vibe? Not 100% sure of the difference there, but really, on our 1 cruise we've taken, we enjoyed the FOOD first of all.... I'm guessing there are lots of included options on Sunrise also, altho it appears there are more upcharge options onboard also... Honestly we enjoyed just walking,taking in scenery, relaxing and reading a book,either in a lounge area, library,or on a deck somewhere.... I think a show or two might be fun also but we're not night owls or anything. We're not "old' lol (early 50's) but we tend to like relaxed activities on the ship.  I see they removed the onboard library for Sunrise....  

[thesmiths]

We did an 8 day on the Sunrise in Sept from NY an had a great cruise and this was when the bashing was real heavy about the Sunrise. We even sailed around Hurricane Dorian.

 

Go, you'll have a good time. Great ship and crew.

 

Deck 3 is a great spot to read and watch the Ocean go by. Plenty of Shade.

Deck 10 Aft outside of the Italian eatery we always found loungers.

 

We did anytime dining when they opened and hit the shows and comedy and in bed most nights by 10.

 

Plenty of things to eat, some with an upcharge, actually  my wife enjoyed the upcharge nights, She looked at is as date nights.

(don't think she knew  there was an upcharge, she never saw the final bill 🙂 but happy wife happy life.)

 

Here is a pic of deck 3 at night.

Shows how close you are to the water line.

Again great place during the day and neat to walk out there at night time..

 

 

 

 

[Hsmama]

1 hour ago, thesmiths said:

We did an 8 day on the Sunrise in Sept from NY an had a great cruise and this was when the bashing was real heavy about the Sunrise. We even sailed around Hurricane Dorian.

 

Go, you'll have a good time. Great ship and crew.

 

Deck 3 is a great spot to read and watch the Ocean go by. Plenty of Shade.

Deck 10 Aft outside of the Italian eatery we always found loungers.

 

We did anytime dining when they opened and hit the shows and comedy and in bed most nights by 10.

 

Plenty of things to eat, some with an upcharge, actually  my wife enjoyed the upcharge nights, She looked at is as date nights.

(don't think she knew  there was an upcharge, she never saw the final bill 🙂 but happy wife happy life.)

 

Here is a pic of deck 3 at night.

Shows how close you are to the water line.

Again great place during the day and neat to walk out there at night time..

 

 

this is awesome! thanks- we booked it! Very excited and it was such a good deal I'll be happy just being able to see new sights! I did book early dining time...does that mean they'll assign us a specific time?

 

 

[jimbo5544]

29 minutes ago, Hsmama said:

 

If you got early dining, it will be the same time every day, same table, same wait staff.