Carnival Sunshine should be put out to sea

[sparks1093]

When this issue presents itself one can certainly ask guest services to handle it but it probably won't be high on the priority list, so it won't be resolved immediately. Or one could just pour some water in the drain and be done with it. Either way is an acceptable course of action but I know what I would do. As for the steward doing it I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that most of them don't know this solution since they aren't maintenance. 

[icft]

27 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

When this issue presents itself one can certainly ask guest services to handle it but it probably won't be high on the priority list, so it won't be resolved immediately. Or one could just pour some water in the drain and be done with it. Either way is an acceptable course of action but I know what I would do. As for the steward doing it I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that most of them don't know this solution since they aren't maintenance. 

Agree with you 100%. But the thing is that without chengkp75's information I would not have known to be looking for the little drain outside the shower. I would have been pouring water down the shower drain and wondering why it didn't work. It is a question of understanding the unique plumbing lay-out in the ship cabins. Picking up useful tips is one of the reasons I follow this forum.

 

 

[jetsfan58]

My family and I Cruise Carnival because we love the professionalism of the Teams, the utmost respect that we have always been forwarded, their dynamic atmosphere and the friendships that we have garnered over the years that we have been cruising (many, many). I have never and will never let the condition of a any Carnival Cruise ship (which none of us can control) put a damper on my and/or my family's enjoyment.

 

Hopefully you will find the dream cruise that you are seeking; we found ours years ago. That's why I am a Carnival Cruise Nut!!!    

[ninjacat123]

I'm glad Chief elaborated on where the drain is.  Good to know, thanks!!

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, icft said:

Agree with you 100%. But the thing is that without chengkp75's information I would not have known to be looking for the little drain outside the shower. I would have been pouring water down the shower drain and wondering why it didn't work. It is a question of understanding the unique plumbing lay-out in the ship cabins. Picking up useful tips is one of the reasons I follow this forum.

 

 

Yes, Cheng is a great source of info but many of us do know and do try to share it.

[skridge]

I am really looking forward to being back on the Sunshine at the end of March.  It is one of my favorite boats.

[cruisingguy007]

3 hours ago, icft said:

Agree with you 100%. But the thing is that without chengkp75's information I would not have known to be looking for the little drain outside the shower. I would have been pouring water down the shower drain and wondering why it didn't work. It is a question of understanding the unique plumbing lay-out in the ship cabins. Picking up useful tips is one of the reasons I follow this forum.

 

 

 

Bingo! Yet, still some will blame the customer. Every other "but" is simply an excuse. Period. Don't care how they frame it. It's simply passing the buck. It's not on passengers to worry about crap like this. OP was ripped on for having standards. Totally unfair.  

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Bingo! Yet, still some will blame the customer. Every other "but" is simply an excuse. Period. Don't care how they frame it. It's simply passing the buck. It's not on passengers to worry about crap like this. OP was ripped on for having standards. Totally unfair.  

If you mean that it's not on the passengers to rectify the issue, I can agree with that. But I looked back and not once did the OP mention taking any of her concerns to guest services and that is squarely on the passenger- if they have a concern they should elevate it to someone onboard for it to be fixed. Of course as I mentioned, by asking guest services to deal with the issue this means that one has to wait for it to be addressed by maintenance, which might take a couple of days. So the choice is to deal with the odor for a couple of days or pour a cup of water down a drain. 

[WakeView4Us]

On 3/5/2022 at 7:58 AM, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Yeah, I mean, who doesn't know that? OP should be flushing drains and worrying about plumbing on vacation. She probably should have brought a tool kit too, so she could have fixed her own drain. Maybe some bleach and Windex to scrub her filthy balcony glass? Oh, and some Murphy's oil soap to get that decking spiffed up. And what kind of passenger doesn't carry caulking in their carry on for quick repairs on a cruise? She's simply being unreasonable. 🙄  

We tried flushing out the different drains every day and still had this issue.

[mz-s]

I just got off Sunshine this morning. I didn't read this whole thread.

 

Sunshine does not look like a ship that is less than 6 months out of a drydock. Yes, the new hull livery looked fresh but the rest of the ship feels like a Daytona Beach resort that was built in the 90's, extensively renovated in the 2010's, and hasn't really been touched since.

 

I really don't know what they could have done to the Sunshine in drydock besides painting the hull. So much of the carpeting inside was stained, faded, and worn, many railings had bare wood splinters showing.

 

I had a great time on the cruise, as always the crew and food on Carnival are great. And given the price I paid I didn't have misplaced expectations. But the Sunshine needs work. Even the Freedom, which I sailed over Thanksgiving and hadn't been drydocked since 2019 - was in better condition. I think the Sunshine needs to be sent back to Miami to run the $150 Miami - Nassau booze cruise route and put something a little nicer in Charleston, personally. Conquest class should fit within the city's agreement.

 

Less than 10 years ago, Sunshine was Carnival's jewel - the only ship with "all" the Fun Ship 2.0 enhancements. Now it seems like she's counting down the days to when Carnival will have the spare tonnage again to send her to Turkey.

[chengkp75]

19 minutes ago, mz-s said:

I really don't know what they could have done to the Sunshine in drydock besides painting the hull. So much of the carpeting inside was stained, faded, and worn, many railings had bare wood splinters showing.

Well, the main reason, and the main cost factor, for drydocking a ship is not to do hotel refurbishment, but to meet statutory requirements for inspection and maintenance of the ship's equipment that is underwater.  Hotel refurbishment is always an "as time allows and as budget allows" scope of work, with the technical work (the engineering) being the critical path to how long the shipyard lasts..  While the ship likely had enough time to get some refurbishment done, given the financial status of the cruise lines, it is not surprising that little refurbishment was budgeted.

[mz-s]

8 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, the main reason, and the main cost factor, for drydocking a ship is not to do hotel refurbishment, but to meet statutory requirements for inspection and maintenance of the ship's equipment that is underwater.  Hotel refurbishment is always an "as time allows and as budget allows" scope of work, with the technical work (the engineering) being the critical path to how long the shipyard lasts..  While the ship likely had enough time to get some refurbishment done, given the financial status of the cruise lines, it is not surprising that little refurbishment was budgeted.

 

I'm not asking for new TVs in all the cabins or even a new venue like Shaq's chicken (although either would have been welcome). But sanding down and refinishing the railings outdoors so people don't get splinters seems pretty basic to me.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

I'm not asking for new TVs in all the cabins or even a new venue like Shaq's chicken (although either would have been welcome). But sanding down and refinishing the railings outdoors so people don't get splinters seems pretty basic to me.

And, if you were burning through $650 million/month, some small items that are not required by law, may seem to be able to be deferred.

[MrMarc]

To be totally honest, I do not see a single thing in your photographs or description that would even get a second look from me on a Carnival, RCCL, Norwegian or similar cruise line.  If I had paid to be on an ultra high line ship, then maybe.  As usual, it has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with expectations.  Once any of those expectations are not met, everything is out under a magnifying glass.  It's something we all tend to do.  The best way to avoid it is to find a line that will meet your expectations, but you will find the pricing will go up much faster than the expectations.  I certainly don't see any safety issues, even unvarnished but sanded and worn railings are unlikely to give you a splinter, and I honestly do not consider a possible splinter to actually be a safety issue.

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, icft said:

Honestly curious... Why it it ridiculous?

 

You think it's OK for them to leave handrails splintering since they are burning cash? Where does this argumentation end..."well my life jacket's strap is dryrotted, but the cruise line didn't increase their quarterly dividend so I don't sweat the small stuff!"

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

You think it's OK for them to leave handrails splintering since they are burning cash? Where does this argumentation end..."well my life jacket's strap is dryrotted, but the cruise line didn't increase their quarterly dividend so I don't sweat the small stuff!"

Well, here you see, you missed the part of my post that said "required by law".  And, since they haven't paid a quarterly dividend in over two years, it may be a concern for management.

[icft]

chengkp75 - I see you have "Retired to Maine." I think I also recall you spent some time on the lower Mississippi so I suspect you have had Louisiana crab, shrimp, etc. Have you ever thought about getting some Zatarain's crab boil and trying it on those Main lobster?

 

A group of us from Louisiana were up there some time back and tried the lobster at various places. The first thought of all of us was "needs Zatarains." You might start a food fad among those who think butter is a spice 😄

[mz-s]

39 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, here you see, you missed the part of my post that said "required by law".  And, since they haven't paid a quarterly dividend in over two years, it may be a concern for management.

 

What I am hearing is Carnival should figure out how to install bars and casinos in the lifeboats, then leave the ships to splinter and rust. They only need the lifeboats by law, anyway. It's not like they're in a pleasure industry or anything. Safe handrails aren't required by law (at least not according to chengkp75) so they can go. Elevators? Gone! More staterooms can go there. We'll leave one for the invalids at the very back of the ship I guess. Windows? Waste of energy! Go to the top deck and look between the casino tables if you want a look at the outside! This is a Carnival cruise, it's not supposed to be enjoyable! Haven't you heard we're burning $650M a month and we still have to be able to scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the ship every 5 years! Cut us some slack.

 

And plug your nose while you walk through the halls if you're not willing to carry a pitcher of water with you to pour down the drains!

Edited March 8, 2022 by mz-s

[Pellaz]

^^^^^   That was the funniest post I've read here in  quite some time....and not in a good way.  

[icft]

7 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

What I am hearing is Carnival should figure out how to install bars and casinos in the lifeboats, then leave the ships to splinter and rust. They only need the lifeboats by law, anyway. It's not like they're in a pleasure industry or anything. Safe handrails aren't required by law (at least not according to chengkp75) so they can go. Elevators? Gone! More staterooms can go there. We'll leave one for the invalids at the very back of the ship I guess. Windows? Waste of energy! Go to the top deck and look between the casino tables if you want a look at the outside! This is a Carnival cruise, it's not supposed to be enjoyable! Haven't you heard we're burning $650M a month and we still have to be able to scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the ship every 5 years! Cut us some slack.

 

And plug your nose while you walk through the halls if you're not willing to carry a pitcher of water with you to pour down the drains!

Thank you mz-s. That was a wonderful bit of writing. I about split my guts laughing! You have made the world a better place...

[chengkp75]

12 hours ago, mz-s said:

What I am hearing is Carnival should figure out how to install bars and casinos in the lifeboats, then leave the ships to splinter and rust.

I'm not even sure I should give this rant a response, but oh, well.  Virtually everything you say that "I'm proposing" would cost more money to do, so that is counter to my argument.  I'm saying, that if given the choice between an $80,000 bill to refinish all the handrails while in shipyard, or to think "this is typically a crew job, and we will be paying the crew's salary anyway while the ship is in service, so if we defer this to be done incrementally by the crew, it will only cost us the price of the varnish", it makes business sense to leave it to crew.  But, I know its not about business, its about "my vacation".  People are so used to bargain cruises that they really don't care whether the cruise lines make money or not, as long as they are provided with a great experience.

[sparks1093]

21 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I'm not even sure I should give this rant a response, but oh, well.  Virtually everything you say that "I'm proposing" would cost more money to do, so that is counter to my argument.  I'm saying, that if given the choice between an $80,000 bill to refinish all the handrails while in shipyard, or to think "this is typically a crew job, and we will be paying the crew's salary anyway while the ship is in service, so if we defer this to be done incrementally by the crew, it will only cost us the price of the varnish", it makes business sense to leave it to crew.  But, I know its not about business, its about "my vacation".  People are so used to bargain cruises that they really don't care whether the cruise lines make money or not, as long as they are provided with a great experience.

And these are railings in areas like the pool deck that aren't designed to be held onto, like a handrail on the stairs (on Legend the lido deck stairs had handrails that were varnished and in good shape, even if the railings around the outside of lido weren't). This is much more of a cosmetic issue than it is an actual safety issue. Our balcony railings on Legend hadn't been done in a while and didn't look all that great, but I wasn't looking at them, I was looking at the beautiful ocean. And someone also mentioned sea salt on windows as being a problem because it wasn't cleaned off- the ship sails in sea water and sea salt on windows affects every ship at sea. I've been on balconies that have had just been cleaned and it didn't take more than a couple of days for the salt to cake up again. 

[embarkation75]

Everybody is entitled to their opinion as the OP obviously sails on some pricier... more elegant cruise lines internationally that 95%+ on a Carnival ship can't afford. Good for her that she has the wealth to afford them as those type of cruises also have enough in fees collected that also helps them hide/maintain these items better (every cruise ship has the same issues no matter how expensive). With that stated, the pictures of rust on the ship or wood rot in the bathroom are things I've seen for years on cruise ships such as the Magic back in 2014 when the ship was only 3 years into service.  It's all about what you're paying and what is really "essential" for sea worthiness. If one believes these items are critical for personal happiness, then I'd stay away from Carnival, RCCL, and NCL by going with a luxury cruise line. It's like shopping for a t-shirt at Target vs Neiman Marcus as expectations depends on where you shop.

[embarkation75]

For example here is an unhappy review of a RCCL ship just prior to the pandemic...

 

 https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=677553

 

Essentially, as I said previously if one believes these items are critical for personal happiness on a cruise, then you should stay away from RCCL, Carnival, and NCL by going with a luxary cruise line requiring 3-4 times the amount of money to book a room.

[cruizinisthebest]

On 3/6/2022 at 3:30 PM, skridge said:

I am really looking forward to being back on the Sunshine at the end of March.  It is one of my favorite boats.

As are we next month. Love the Sunshine even after being on the bigger, newer ships. I agree it should be "put out to sea." With me on the lido with a drink in my hand enjoying vacation!