elspeth

We're on Freedom in January 2017 as well.

I live in Puerto Rico now so any questions about Puerto Rico or San Juan I will be happy to help with. Thanks for all the advice on the ports of call. I'm looking forward to cruising out of San Juan to these ports.

I didn't use the Spa on our recent Sunshine cruise. They wanted $45 for a manicure, with my own color coat polish (I had new polish I wanted to try). Here at home, I can get a top notch mani and pedi for $45.

Favorite - Conquest

Least Favorite - Sunshine

You can read my Sunshine review on the Carnival board. Lots of plumbing issues on the Sunshine. The rest is opinion, really. I thought the public spaces were crowded, YTD in the MDR was a hot mess, and Serenity area windy and loud. Other folks from my same sailing have said they'd sail on her again, so you may have to try it once to see.

gregg204,

Thanks for the tip about the upper levels of the Serenity deck. If I find myself on Sunshine again, I'll see if those parts of the Serenity area are more to my liking.

We chose to self assist off the ship. The last sea day of the cruise there was an announcement made 3 or 4 different times to inform all of us guests that when we arrived back in NOLA the water would be shut off ship wide from 8 am until 11 am for regularly scheduled plumbing maintenance. DH went up to Lido deck around midnight and found a group of roaming partiers who wanted DH to join them in squeezing every drop of fun out of the last night on the ship. They were completely unaware of the water being turned off at 8:00 the next morning. I'd be very interested in hearing from someone else on our sailing who was on the ship longer than we were how that went. Since we were Priority self assist, we were off the ship, through customs, and on the road heading out of NOLA by 8:00 am. Two other slightly odd things about getting off the ship - as we were headed into the terminal we heard a ship wide announcement on the PA system that due to refueling the ship, there was a ship wide ban on smoking while you waited to get off the ship. I am also curious how that worked out. The final announcement we had never heard before was concerning where you should and shouldn't hang out while waiting for your zone to be called so you can leave. While the Lido deck was an approved place to be, there was a request for guests who had finished eating breakfast to please find somewhere else to be so other guests could have a place to eat breakfast too. Another indication of too many guests, not enough space? Anyway, that wraps up our cruise experience on the Sunshine. If you have any additional questions, fire away.

Unlike our previous trips to Montego Bay, we actually really enjoyed this port of call on this cruise. We booked an all inclusive beach resort through Carnival. Departing the ship was quick and efficient. The different tour guides were very helpful in assisting us to find our excursion group. While we would have had plenty of time to shop at the pier area after returning from our excursion, we were ready for showers and a nap, so we headed back to the ship. We have seen people have their bags spot checked at the Jamaican security check point on prior cruises. We've also seen a K-9 unit before. This trip was a whole different story. When I walked through the metal detector, it went off so loudly I started to be suspicious of myself, but none of the Jamaican officials even looked at me twice. DH was next through the metal detector. Same thing. It goes nuts as he steps through. No one even turned their head, just motioned the next people through. We were able to basically walk right back on the ship and immediately catch an elevator. It was very pretty pulling away from Jamaica after dark and watching all the lights twinkling up the hills from our balcony.

Grand Cayman, as most of you probably know, is a tender port. We didn't have to meet our tour group until 10:45, but we went to shore early so we could walk around the shopping area around the tender terminal. We met with the other Priority tender guests in the Atrium as requested. After a short wait, we were escorted as a group to the tender station. There was a short line to get on the tender, but it moved quickly and we were soon on our way. As were leaving the ship, we were given a map of the shopping area and a piece of paper showing the names of 5 or 6 different stores in the shopping area. Each one had a different free gift for stopping by and if you had each store validate your paper that you had come in, you could turn in the completed page back onboard for a drawing for a prize package. I didn't win the drawing, but I had fun finding the different stores and collecting the cheesy free swag. After our excursion, we were able to walk right onto a returning tender and were soon back onboard. Getting off the tender was a little tedious because it took awhile to process the whole tender load of guests back onboard. The line was long and slow. Once back onboard though, we were again able to snag an elevator right away.

There were 5 cruise ships in Cozumel, including our ship, the day we were there. Since we had no specific plans in Cozumel, we leisurely left the ship, walked around, had some lunch, did a little shopping, mostly window shopping, and strolled back on to the ship before the rush. Again, we basically walked right back on the ship, no line, no waiting, and were quickly on an elevator headed back upstairs.

I'm laughing at myself at how little we participated in this cruise compared to prior cruises. Did I mention we REALLY enjoyed our balcony, lol? This section is going to be a little skimpy.

Cooking Demo at the Steakhouse - If you enjoy cooking and/or eating, you are going to want to do this. Get there early. Seating is limited. On our sailing, we got there about 30 minutes early and there were already half a dozen people already waiting when we got there. The chefs prepared a creamy mushroom soup "cappuccino", a salad with blue cheese, mushrooms, and other yummyness, mac and cheese with a chicken breast, plus dessert, while a member of the entertainment staff explained the recipe ingredients and techniques. You get nicely presented samples of each dish. You also get a print out of the recipes to keep.

Gold, Platinum, and Diamond party - On our sailing, this event was held in the Liquid Lounge. We have never had the same hors d'oeuvres twice at these events, and this time was no exception. Honestly, most of them were not to my taste this time around. I'm not too worried about that, because I'm unlikely to ever see them again anyway. There was a tuna tataki cube, which did not seem like a hit with me, DH, our table mates, or the people seated near us. DH noted most folks were trying to nibble off the cooked outer shell and were leaving the raw tuna part uneaten. Then there were the bacon cheesecake bites on a stick. I applaud the boldness of the choice, but the result was an overly sweet, oddly textured bacon bit studded piece of nast. Judging by the trash on the tables around us, and our table mates reactions, I was not alone in my opinion of this one. Next up was one I actually kinda liked, although I've seen the same flavor profile done better on different ships. It was a piece of mozzarella cheese surrounded with a shaving of tomato with a hint of Italian flavoring. I liked it, but DH and table mates were not impressed. The best of the bunch was also the last offered. A slice of ham and cheese on dry baguette slices and one leaf of tasty greenery, in other words, a snack sized dry ham sandwich. Ok, so the snacks weren't all that. On the upside, the drinks were strong and plentiful. Refills were easily obtained. There was such an abundance of drinks, servers were passing out the extras to us as we exited the lounge at the end of the event. If you have ever been to one of these events, you know the drill. There's the film of the ships, the introduction of the senior officers, recognition of Diamond guests, etc. When we started going to the then-called past guest parties, there was a live band and couples dancing. That has changed somewhat, having been replaced with a DJ and line dancing such as the Cupid Shuffle with members of the entertainment staff on stage.

Mini golf - There was a limited supply of adult size putters, but this is by far and away the best mini golf I've seen yet on a ship.

Ropes course - DH couldn't wait to experience the ropes course. He, and everyone else I talked to who tried it, raved about how fun it was. Check your Funtimes carefully as the ropes course is only open at certain times, for 2 or 3 hours, 2 or 3 times a day.

CC Roll Call Meet and Greet - We met some really terrific people at this event. We had a very active roll call on this sailing, and really felt we got a lot of bang for our buck for the $ spent. We met folks at this event we kept bumping into throughout the week, and even some we hope to keep in touch with going forward. A lot of fun. Hats off to the folks who made it happen.

We heard some of the live music in the Ocean Way area almost every night while we waited for our pager to go off to be seated for dinner. We liked pretty much everything we heard. Judging by the folks dancing and hanging around, a lot of folks liked the music.

That's it. We didn't go to the Spa. We didn't see one comedy act, we didn't go see a single show. We never stepped foot in the Piano Bar and saw no magic acts. We pretty much got up early, watched the sun rise on the balcony, took turns getting ready, had brunch in the MDR on sea days, went back to our balcony, roamed around a little, had dinner, and sat on our balcony off and on until bedtime. We watched every port arrival and departure from our balcony. Got some great pics from the balcony too.

Next up, ports of call

LAKingsFan,

I actually have video taken with my iPad. I'll start working on screen captures and let you know when and where you can find them when I post the pics. I'm not a tech guru, but I'll also see what I can do about getting the vid online for you. I hope you enjoy the cabin as much we did.

TravelE, we felt we received good service from the Sunshine staff. We didn't use the Spa, we don't have children, and we didn't go to a single show or comedy act, which is unusual for us. Again, we really enjoyed the balcony and opted to spend a lot of time there instead of enjoying our usual on board activities. I don't have any complaints about any of the staff members we interacted with. Disclaimer: Not everyone on our sailing had the same experience we did. Your mileage may vary, so to speak. We heard some stories, but based on first hand experience, we thought the crew was professional, seemed team oriented, and were all friendly and approachable.

MDR - We chose YTD. We really enjoy the flexibility of YTD and we've chosen that dining option since it was introduced. There were only 2 of us and we didn't have a preference for a 2 top or a table for 20, just whatever was fine with us. We still had to take a pager and wait for half an hour or more to be seated almost every night. We've never had that happen before. The dining room staff was friendly and we were pleased with our service once we were finally seated, except for the speed of the dinner. One of the dining room staff told us Sunshine has the smallest galley in the fleet and that is more difficult to work in than other Carnival galleys. Maybe that is why dinner service was so slow? In fact, the service was so slow, our servers invariable asked if they could serve us two dishes at once to help speed things up. One night we waited over 20 minutes from the time our entree plates were removed until we were given a dessert menu. We heard other passengers complain dinner was running so long they had trouble making the show times. Other than that, we were pleased with the MDR experience. The presentation and taste of the food was much more win than fail, we both really enjoyed the Sea Day Brunch, and the bar service was prompt.

The Lido - We really like Guy's Burgers and the Blue Iguana. The Blue Iguana also serves killer breakfast burritos. The Marketplace buffet area is arranged into stations, which gives the area much less of a cafeteria buffet feeling than other ships we've been on. The omelet stations are hiding behind the Marketplace area in the Italian and Chinese restaurant areas. I enjoyed the fun factor of the hand washing stations.

Room Service - We only ordered room service once. I ordered 2 tomato juices, one mixed green salad with blue cheese dressing, 2 orders of vegetable sticks with blue cheese dressing, 1 hot tea, and a Ruben sandwich with potato chips. We placed the order around midnight and it came in 10-15 minutes. Oddly, there were 2 Ruben sandwiches and chips, two hot tea set ups, but only enough hot water for 1 cup, an extra and unasked for Caesar salad in addition to the mixed green salad I ordered, and no blue cheese dressing at all. A phone call produced blue cheese dressing in about 10 more minutes. The food was itself was good. The Rubens were hot, the chips were fresh and crisp, the salad greens were in good shape.

Bar Service at the Blue Iguana and the Red Frog Pub was usually very slow. There didn't seem to be enough servers at the bars for the number of guests when the main pool area was hopping and some of the guests were a little grumpy at the slow service. The Havana Bar usually wasn't crowded at all, but it sometimes wasn't open so if you want soda or booze with lunch, you had to go all the way back to the main pool area for a refill.

Cabin service:

Our room steward's name was I Komano. He was very good, and we are used to good service from Carnival in this area. We spent a lot of time in our cabin enjoying the balcony. It was as if he was hiding around the corner just waiting for us to leave, because even if we weren't gone long, the cabin was tidied and ready for us when we came back. The bed was remade, the bathroom refreshed, ice in the bucket, trash cans empty, and spotlessly clean. If we left out PJ's or a tee shirt, we would come back to find them neatly folded and left on the loveseat. He greeted us by name, never failed to ask how our day was, and seemed genuinely interested in our answers. I Komano always seemed happy and would never seemed too busy or rushed to talk with us, even though I know he had a lot of work to do. His associates were also friendly, efficient, and helpful. We have only good things to say about our cabin service. Some of the other members of our CC roll call didn't have the same great experience, telling us they had difficulty getting a towel animal or mints for their children, never getting an ice bucket, and having trouble getting their Funtimes, but I'll let them describe their own experience in more detail, if they choose to do so. I only mention it because it surprised me to hear that since our cabin steward was made of awesome.

The Public Areas:

DH and I agreed we liked the decor on the Sunshine better than any other ship we've been on. Fantasy would be our runner up, for comparison sake. The hallways in the cabin areas have pictures of tropical scenes like palm trees on a beach and the doors and surrounds are made to look like wood slat doors on the front of a beach bungalow. It gives the whole hallway a lighter, more Caribbean feel than we've seen before. Other guests we talked also liked the look. We also liked the look of the Ocean Way area, the Lido deck areas, and most of the other public spaces as well.

Unfortunately, most of the public spaces felt small to us for the number of people on board. The Liquid Lounge felt tiny, as did the MDR, the Limelight Lounge, and the Piano Bar. The lido deck is dedicated to dining from the main pool area all the way back to the aft of the ship. You'd think that would make for a lot of space, maybe even a feeling of openness, but you would think wrong. With the space being broken up between the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar, the Red Frog Rum Bar, the Blue Iguana Cantina, Guy's Burger's, the Marketplace Buffet, the Deli, the Pizzeria, El Captain's, Ji Ji's, and the Havana Bar, each area feels cramped. It was common to for us and other guests to get a burger from Guy's or a taco from the Blue Iguana, but have to go past the seating area for Guy's and the Blue Iguana, past the Marketplace seating and into the Ji Ji's/Havana Bar/El Captain's areas to find a place to sit and eat our burgers or tacos. It was a little strange. Also, splitting the space into so many differently themed separate areas seems to have resulted in a lot of space lost to hallways/walkways/transition spaces. Ocean Way and the Alchemy Bar do feel nice and open, but again, there seems to be a lot of space dedicated to walking from place to place, but not enough room to sit for the number of guests wanting to sit.

The Serenity area:

The Serenity area is very pretty. IMHO, it just isn't very Serene. Unlike other Serenity areas we've seen, this one overlooks the main pool area. This means that you hear everything going on in the main pool area whether you want to or not. From the concerts and movies on the big screen to the Hairy Chest competition, you can experience all the excitement from the lovely Serenity area. You will feel part of the action, because, well, you're right there on top of it, aren't you? Since it is up high on the open deck, it is also very windy. That's so much of a problem if I'm doing something active like mini golf, but I don't like to lounge and relax in high winds. For us, even though it is very pretty, the Serenity area was a disappointment. Yet another reason to hang out on our private balcony.

I saw one of the infamous drip catching buckets. DH said he saw a few more in other cabin hallways. We did notice sewer smell in several areas, most notably in the hallway between Ocean Way and the Casino. One day in the hallway leading to our cabin, there was a air blower drying the carpet, but I'm uncertain why the carpet was wet in the first place.

Still to come - Food quality and service, shipboard activities, excursions, ports of call, and disembarkation.

Summary:

We had an awesome cruise, met some great people, loved our aft wrap cabin, and probably won't book on the Sunshine again. In short, it wasn't our favorite Carnival ship.

About us:

My 11th and DH's 12th cruise. We have only cruised on Carnival, and we've had almost every type of room you can have. We've been on Fantasy, Ecstasy, Elation, Celebration, Conquest, Triumph, and now Sunshine. We always leave out of NOLA or Galveston and we always drive to the port. This was our second cruise as Platinum guests.

Embarkation:

We arrived at the pier a little before 11:00 am. There wasn't any traffic, we had no trouble finding a place to park, and were able to basically walk straight thru security and to the Priority lounge. After a short wait, we were checked in. Boarding had already begun, and we were able to walk right on the ship. Since we're Platinum, our room was ready when we boarded.

Cabin:

We were in Cabin 7322, an aft wrap. This was our first aft wrap, and we loved it. Worth every penny. Good things about the cabin - the balcony was epic - 4 chairs, 2 little tables, and 2 loungers with enough room to still move around. I loved all the windows, there was plenty of storage, and the shower was larger than I've come to expect on Carnival. I usually don't care for the artwork in the cabins, but I even liked the cabin art and color scheme - blue and yellow with creamy white walls and ceiling with the typical Carnival woodwork looking desk and storage units. The climate control worked well. Bad things about the cabin - there wasn't an ice bucket in our cabin, but a phone call to the room steward quickly resolved that minor issue. Another minor issue, just as easily fixed, was getting a new Cruisin/Snoozin door sign as ours was broken. The mechanism that should have automatically closed the balcony door was broken, but I can close a door myself so we didn't even report it. The light around the mirror over the desk was also not working, but maintenance fixed it on the second day. We didn't notice it was supposed to light up and didn't realize anything was wrong with it until we came back to our cabin to find a guy working on it. The biggest issues we had with the cabin were the plumbing and the position of the toilet. The position of the toilet is awkward. The drawback to the nice sized shower is that due to the angle of the toilet, there is no good place to put your left foot while sitting on the toilet. We both had the same issue. You either have to put your left foot in the shower, or on top of the lip of the shower, or sit kinda sideways with your knees sorta pressing into the counter. It was just awkward. The day we embarked I noticed the toilet didn't consistently flush. Sometimes I'd push the button and nothing would happen. Sometimes it would take 6 or more flushes to get a piece of toilet tissue to go away. I reported the issue to both maintenance and our room steward. Maintenance was working on the plumbing in the hallway outside our room periodically during the week, but the flushing issue seemed better as the week progressed. Near the end of the cruise, DH went to take a shower and there was no water in the bathroom at all. He called to report the issue, but the water came back on while he was on the phone. You could tell that at some point in the past the entire wall in our cabin next to the bathroom in the next cabin over had been removed. There are some scraps on the ceiling and you can tell the trim pieces have been removed and replaced. I can only assume there was some sort of plumbing issue responsible, since that's the wall where the plumbing is for the neighboring cabin. One last note about the plumbing - the last sea day there were multiple announcements to inform the guests that on disembarkation day the water on the Sunshine was being cut of from 8 am until 11 am for regularly scheduled maintenance on the plumbing, and we guests should plan our mornings accordingly. Make of that what you will. More to come shortly.

I'm pretty happy with the new menus, except for the disappointing dessert menu.

The appetizers, entrees, port of call selections, rare finds, all that looks great. I wish there were more salad and soup options, but I can live with it. The desserts on the other hand, well, I guess it is a good thing I don't eat a lot of sweets. The new dessert menu will help see to that. Cheeseplate for dessert gone as well as bitter and blanc.

We usually do. Just in case something goes wrong, I don't want to be stuck in a foreign country without it.

On our recent B2B on Elation, we got baseball caps on the first leg, and a photo album and a tote bag on the second leg.

I must have gotten lucky with my current PVP too. She helps with all kinds of questions and issues for me, not just booking new cruises.

Recently off B2B on Elation. 1st leg - hats. 2nd leg - One small leather like photo album and a small tote. Would be more excited about the tote if I didn't already have 2 larger Carnival logoed totes and 1 larger Carnival logoed canvas duffel style tote. If DH hasn't already given tote away, I'll try to post a pic.

We've only had one B2B, but loved it, and would do it again in a heartbeat. No point in repeating all the pros others have already stated, but I agree. No downside for us. Like previous poster said, let's you get a second chance to see/do things you missed the first time.

I agree. You can see well enough to tell where you are, but pictures will probably not work well. The windows in the public areas can suffer from the same salt spray. They clean the windows periodically, but they can't keep up completely.