WMQueenie

When we went on our first cruise in 2005, I was amazed at the cabins being serviced 2 times a day.  The turn down at night with a chocolate on my pillow, the towel animal (yes, I love them!) and the room lighting was perfect...ice bucket filled up twice a day.  These things made us fall in love with cruising, being pampered like no hotel on land ever did.  We always got into our cabin by 1:30-2:00 which was welcomed because of the long travel day to get there, I just wanted to flop on the bed and take in a deep breath saying, ahhhhh...we're finally onboard!  Slowly these things have been dwindling and although it won't stop us from cruising, it is disappointing. 

9 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

If you read one of the OP’s later posts, the bookings were never linked together. I think this is due to her not understanding what actually constitutes linking bookings together. While I think the OP bares some responsibility, I think Carnival could do a better job educating inexperienced cruisers. Of course one could also make the argument that’s what a TA is for. 

The bookings were linked in my reservation online.  This is my 15th cruise and we never had an issue before with having the same table assignment.

Recent cruise on the Sunrise out of NYC

I would call to confirm - we were on the Sunrise 8/27 and here's what happened to us -  (from my review) -

After lunch I noticed that we had 3 separate tables for the 8:15 dinner service on our Sail and Sign cards!  Our reservations were linked together online and I assumed our dinner seating would automatically be linked like it has in the past when we traveled with others. I immediately went to the dining room and the maitre 'd was not there so we spoke with the girl there who said it was impossible to change for the first night and they might be able to change it the next day. She said the maitre 'd would be available around 6PM so we went back down and saw him then. He was very condescending and outright rude and said he had very few requests to change and it would be impossible to get us a table for 5 for the late seating. He could give us anytime dining which we ended up agreeing to. It worked out, but we had first time cruisers with us and I wanted them to experience the set dining experience with the same wait staff every night and the shows they perform at the end of the dinner service. We liked our servers the first night and tried to get the same wait staff the 2nd night and they said they weren't available. It was disappointing. We had different wait staff every night and different tables every night.  I will say, the staff was excellent and the food was the best we've had on a ship.

We were in cabin 8210 on the Pride over Thanksgiving week.  We could hear what sounded like thunder now and then and that was it for noise.  Found out it was when they rolled carts through the buffet area.  Didn't bother us in the least.  I liked the convenience of running up one deck to grab something and bring it back to the cabin.  

We were on the Sunrise last week.  We asked for morning and evening service because I wanted ice twice a day and I always like coming back to the cabin at the end of the night to see the bed turned down, lights on low.  We got our towel animals in the morning and funny thing is, they lived longer when we got them at night!  I would put them on a shelf and they would survive for days, but for some reason when we get them in the morning they didn't survive the day, not sure why!  I shower twice a day so it is nice to have the bathroom tidied up.  I, too remember the twice a day service without asking, the chocolates on the pillow, etc.  One of the reasons we fell in love with cruising...it felt special, unlike a hotel's once a day service.

My son and his wife are on the Sunrise now and just called from Puerto Rico.  They said there are very few kids (what a difference a week makes!) and they are having a wonderful time.  Beautiful weather, great food and shows.  The Lido deck is crowded but it's not an issue.  So glad to hear from them that they are having a great trip so far!

8 hours ago, drmom459 said:

It seems the only area in the Pride's MDR that the vibration is noticed is towards the rear of the room - this was on the left side aft of the MDR.  It was entertaining chasing your food around.....

 

Our table for 8 was all the way aft on our Thanksgiving cruise...it was laughable how much it vibrated.  We asked to be moved the 3rd night.

I always take the cans out of the carton and put them inside a jumbo zip lock bag and put them in the rolling carry on.  NYC didn't even bat an eyelash when they went through the scanner, with 2 bottles of wine.  Baltimore and Boston made me take them out of the carry on and show them what they were.

16 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Thanks for doing the review. We will be on the Sunrise for a B2B starting on the 16th. Looking forward to seeing how the ship is with less family groups and kids.😎

We always cruise September/October/November but the only itinerary's were to Bermuda and NE/Canada, except this week, but we had a wedding yesterday and the Patriots (season ticket holders) opening game today!   My son and his wife are on the Sunrise right now, can't wait to hear what they say.  So, the only option was last week and I was hoping because Labor Day was in the middle of the week there wouldn't be so many kids...boy, was I wrong!

There were 5 of us on this cruise, all of us in our 60's, 2 first time cruisers and 3 experienced cruisers.  My husband and I and been on 6 Carnival cruises - 4 Royal Caribbean and 5 Norwegian cruises. Traveling with us was my sister in one cabin and (first time cruisers), long time friends in another.  We parked at the pier, $320 for 8 nights, split 3 ways isn't bad-we traveled together in one vehicle.  Embarkation took maybe an hour from start to finish.  Relatively simple.  On board by noon, headed to Lido for our first Guy's Burger. 

After lunch I noticed that we had 3 separate tables for the 8:15 dinner service!  Our reservations were linked together online and I assumed our dinner seating would automatically be linked like it has in the past when we traveled with others. I immediately went to the dining room and the maitre 'd was not there so we spoke with the girl there who said it was impossible to change for the first night and they might be able to change it the next day. She said the maitre 'd would be available around 6PM so we went back down and saw him then. He was very condescending and outright rude and said he had very few requests to change and it would be impossible to get us a table for 5 for the late seating. He could give us anytime dining which we ended up agreeing to. It worked out, but we had first time cruisers with us and I wanted them to experience the set dining experience with the same wait staff every night and the shows they perform at the end of the dinner service. We liked our servers the first night and tried to get the same wait staff the 2nd night and they said they weren't available. It was disappointing. We had different wait staff every night and different tables every night.  I will say, the staff was excellent and the food was the best we've had on a ship.

We all had balcony cabins on deck 8, very close to the glass elevators.  Very convenient location but we could hear a lot of noise from the lobby at night when the parties were going on.  The noise did not bother us, I actually enjoyed listening to it but others might find it annoying.  The cabins were fine, standard Carnival.  Our room steward was excellent.  Always present, always pleasant.  We asked for twice a day service, with ice please!  I think twice a day is what differentiates a cruise from a hotel.  It feels special.  Really nice, big, flat screen TVs with on demand movies (some have a fee, most do not), one news channel, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, History Channel (?), Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and a bunch of Carnival channels including a Map Channel. 

The Lido deck is an absolute disaster.  Pools were mobbed all the time, I'm talking a sea of heads.  Loud music, too loud.  The pathways to the buffet were the absolute worse designed areas I have ever seen!  You have Guy's Burgers on one side and Blue Iguana on the other so there are lines of people at each place, then there are drink stations in this tiny passageway AND hand washing stations!  It was ridiculous!  Once inside the buffet area you have the deli on the Blue Iguana side and Lucky Bowl on Guy's side.  Proceed to the buffet which was ALWAYS crowded and s-l-o-w moving people.  We always managed to find a table but one of us had to stay with it while the rest attempted to get food.  The pizza place was in the way back and the Seafood Shack was back there too. 

Food -

Breakfast/Brunch/Dinner in the Sunshine Restaurant was always very good.  We ate most meals here because everything else was very noisy, crowded and the food was just not as good.  As stated before, we ended up with Any Time Dining.  We always ate around 8:00 and getting a table took less than 10 minutes with the exception of elegant night, which took 30 minutes.  Checking in at the desk was easy and using the HUB app was even easier.  We believe the food in the main dining room was the best we've ever had on a ship.  Hot, tasty and good portions.  One in our little group has Celiac Disease and has to be gluten free.  The wait staff was aware as she let them know before boarding and they went above and beyond to make sure she was well taken care of.

Guys' Burgers were very good.  The lines move very fast.

Guys' Pig and Anchor - never saw a line.  Ate there only once and it was just okay.  No desire to go back.

Blue Iguana - Always a line but they moved along.  Always enjoy the burrito.

Pizza place - Always a line, a very slow moving line.  I really enjoyed the pizza on the Sunshine and Pride but not this one as much.  It wasn't worth the wait.

Deli - OMG.....the line might be small, but....we came back from port early and seeing how the line was short, decided on sandwiches for lunch.  5 people in line ahead of us, 5 people working inside.  25 minutes later we had 2 hot dogs and half a turkey wrap.  25 minutes!  I really enjoyed that wrap but didn't want to wait in that long again.

Buffet - yuck.  Long lines ALL the time.  People said, oh on go off times and you'll be fine.  We tended to eat lunch around 2:00.  That's kind of late for lunch and besides, it closes at 2:30.  Forget about it!  Long lines with the slowest moving people ever.  Poorly designed, everything in one long display.  One of the port days we got back late and decided to skip the dining room and try the buffet.  It wasn't really too crowded.  The food sucked.  Little variety.  Roast beef or what was supposed to be roast beef was inedible.  My husband absolutely loves the buffet and wants to eat there most of the time.  This night was our one and only dinner there.  I ended up waiting in line for pizza after I attempted to eat that beef or whatever.  Very disappointing.  Makes me wonder how the food in the dining rooms can be so good and the food in the buffet so bad.

We did not eat in any specialty restaurants, although we did have breakfast one morning in the Italian restaurant above the buffet area.  They have a small breakfast buffet, all the food was ice cold, but they did have made to order omelets and eggs.  It was not crowded at all but it was hot in there.

Bars - We like to have a few drinks before dinner every night.  There were 5 of us and we wanted to sit and chat over cocktails.  It's hard to find a "quiet" bar!  The Electric Violins played almost every night and they are very good but a bit loud and somber.  The Red Frog Pub had karaoke almost every night at that time and that was very loud and carried out to the Alchemy Bar which was our favorite.  We ended up sitting in a pretty empty Sports Bar every night because we could hear each other.  When there was no karaoke, we went to Alchemy which had the best bartenders and best drinks.  We did not do the drink package.

Public areas - The ship's layout is very choppy but I had read up on this before hand and knew what to do.  I lead my little troop around - elevator down to deck 5 - walk all the way through the shops, casino, Sushi restaurant, bars to the aft elevators to get to the Sunshine Restaurant where we ate twice a day.  It really isn't that difficult to get around once you understand the layout.  We found pockets of uneven air conditioning all around.  The elevators were extremely warm.  The buffet was downright uncomfortable.  The Italian restaurant was very warm during breakfast.  The Liquid Lounge (main theater) is small and uncomfortable.  My legs were cramped when we sat in the chairs, they were fine if we were lucky enough to get a bench type seat.  There were nights that it was absolutely freezing in there.  Casino was comfortable but smoky - I do not understand why they can't do something about that - better smoke eaters - half smoking, half non-smoking...something!  We always saw someone cleaning and the ship was pretty darn clean even though people left food and drinks everywhere!  An entire bowl of noodles on staircase, smashed cupcakes on the floor near the elevator, a full drink right outside our cabin door that I almost tripped over!  Which leads to my next topic -

Guests - 95% of the guests we encountered were very friendly and talkative.  Then there are those who walked around with their own music blaring, gangs of teenagers running wild (where are the parents?!).  Twice someone banged on our cabin door, hard, like startling loud!  Once in the afternoon when the snooze sign was out and once at 2AM.  Lots of yelling going on. 

Crew - Fantastic.  Everyone was personable, friendly and polite.  We did have once exception at brunch - our waiter was obviously very sick.  He looked miserable, was sniffling and didn't have any patience with our questions.  He took our order and disappeared, we figured he was relived of his duty.  Our meals never came and we ended up walking out.  

Entertainment - CD Chris "The Flying Scotsman" was excellent.  Always visible, very high energy and entertaining.  His one man show was surprisingly good.  That's about it.  The 2 "big" production shows of singing and dancing were just okay. One night they had a guest singer - Marcus Anthony, singing Motown.  He was excellent, quite the entertainer.  I thought the entertainment was sorely lacking on this cruise.  Pretty boring. 

Unfortunately we never made it to the comedy club as the times were always the same with dinner and the shows in the main theater.

HUB App is excellent!  Kept daily tabs on our on board expenses, selected activities and put them into "My Planner" which reminds you 15 minutes before it starts, put in our request for a table in the My Time Dining part.  The weather report was very accurate!  I used it constantly!  We used the Chat part - for $5 per person for the entire cruise we could communicate with each other via text message.  Very convenient!

Ports -  We had not booked any excursions through Carnival as we had been to 2 out of 3 ports before.  Didn't feel a need to.

San Juan - we were planning to just walk around old downtown but it was so hot that we ended up taking a tour from the many, many locals trying to get you when you get off the ship.  It was $15 per person and lasted almost 2 hours.  We thought it was worth it.  They drop you off at the top of the shopping area. 

Amber Cove - Basically an outdoor shopping mall with pools.  Next time I would book an excursion. 

Grand Turk - We've been there several times and sad to say but I think it's going down hill fast.  It used to be a relaxing beach day but now the locals have taken over and are aggressively trying to "sell" you beach chairs and umbrellas.  There was trash all over and a lot of the buildings were boarded up.  We walked as far down the beach as we could to get away from them and the crowds but again the heat got to us and we ended up negotiating 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas for $25.  Luckily there was a little snack bar with bathrooms right behind us.  I wanted to walk to Jack's Shack but it was just too far for us old timers.  The water was beautiful and where we were, the trash wasn't as bad.  Two dogs ended up staying with us under our lounge chairs so they brightened up the day!

When we left NYC, hurricane Dorian looked like it might cause us some problems.  We did receive a paper upon boarding explaining that our ports have been changed around and that they would keep us a safe distance from the storm at all times.  Two days later we received another paper update with the arrival times changed but in our opinion, for the better!   Slightly less time in San Juan but longer time in Amber Cove and Grand Turk.  Carnival did an excellent job of keeping us safe.  We had beautiful weather and nearly calm seas the entire trip.  I think it might of rained at night once or twice but never saw a raindrop during the day. 

Even though it sounds like I did a lot of complaining above, all in all it was a great trip.  I believe in honest reviews.  Not sure if we will sail on the Sunrise again due to overcrowding and the Lido deck setup.  Most of our cruises are out of NYC because it is a 2-1/2 hour drive for us.  Hopefully Carnival will have a different ship sailing out of there soon. We normally sail in late September/October when kids are back in school.   I thought sailing the week of Labor Day would cut back on the amount of kids on board as most schools start right before Labor Day or that week.  Don't get me wrong, I love kids but for some reason they (mostly teenagers) are wild on ships and I do not enjoy that. 

Happy to answer any questions!

12 minutes ago, AdGuyMG said:

If on the week you were on the ship your wait staff was working the My Time dining tables, the following week they may be working Set Time tables in another dining room.

 

It all evens out in the end.

That's what I was hoping!

23 minutes ago, SUNNY D said:

Just curious, is there a need to link cabins if we have YTD?  Ive cruised carnival before but no experience with the YTD.  It shows you can use the HUB app to get a table and I'm wondering how that works, if one person can request a table for 6 or if someone from each cabin has to request a table?

No need to IF you just walk up to the check in desk and give them the cabin numbers.  On the HUB app, all of our names appeared when I checked in using the app after the first day.

No, I did not call Carnival to link the reservations as I never had to before.  I wish they would have an option online to put in your dining table preference right next to the time you select.  I've learned my lesson and will call from now on!  I always go to the dining room on embarkation day to check out our table and once or twice out of 15 cruises did we ask for a change and it was done with no problem.  All of us thought this maitre 'd was very rude-only member of the crew that we encountered that was unpleasant.

We had Ken, the singing maitre 'd on the Pride in November and he was awesome!  Entertainment every night at the end of the 8:15 dinner service.  Only issue on the Pride was that we were in the absolute back of the dining room and the vibration was so bad that everything on the table was jumping around.  Ken tried to move us (there we 8 of us on that cruise) but we ended up at 2 tables side by side, which was fine.

Just off the Sunrise yesterday. We booked 3 cabins online, all linked together. After we checked in, I looked at everyone's card and  we had 3 separate tables, all at 8:15 (never had this issue before, we were always seated together).  I immediately went to the dining room upon boarding and the maitre d was not there so we spoke with the girl who was there,  she said we had -  2 at a table for 2,  2 at a table for 10 and my sister all alone at a large table and that it was impossible to change for the first night but they might be able to change it the next day. She said the maitre d would be available around 6PM so we saw him then.  He was very condescending and outright rude saying our reservations were NOT linked...I asked him if he wanted to see my reservation on my phone and he waved me off.  He went on to say that  he had very few requests to change dining times and it would be impossible to get us a table for 5 for the late seating. After much discussion, he said he could give us anytime dining which we ended up agreeing to. It worked out, but we had first time cruisers with us and I wanted them to experience the set dining experience with the same wait staff every night and the shows they perform at the end of the dinner service. We tried to get the same wait staff the 2nd night and they said they weren't available. We ended up at a different table every night.  It was disappointing, however,  I will say, the staff was excellent and the food was the best we've had on a ship.  We only saw 2 "shows" out of 8 nights. 

Another thought on anytime dining...we usually tip our waitstaff extra, in cash, on the last night but had no bond with the anytime staff.  This made me wonder about how unfair it is to these hard working people that they must not get the same tips as the set dining staff does.  Does anyone tip the anytime waitstaff if you have different people every night?

Just got off the Sunrise and have to say it would be my last choice.  The crew was amazing, the food in the main dining room was, in our opinion, the best we've ever had on a cruise.  The passengers were friendly for the most part.  But the buffet and lido deck are absolutely awful.  Packed with people, the music was too loud, the pathways to the buffet from the pool area are ridiculous!  Lines for everything up there.  We ended up eating breakfast/brunch 7 out of 8 mornings and 6 out of 8 nights in the dining room (DH loves a buffet but not this one, he was disappointed).  Excellent service and food in the Sunshine Restaurant, with one exception at brunch.  The CD-Chris the Flying Scotsman was the best.  Otherwise,  we thought the entertainment was so-so.  The ship's layout is choppy but I knew that beforehand and planned accordingly - we were on deck 8, take the elevator to 5 and go from there.  Not a big deal.  I agree with someone who said the photo gallery was a joke, they had stacks of pictures piled up on a table to dig through!  Crazy.   Main theater is too small, lobby is too small.  Not enough bars to have a quiet drink at night... karaoke almost every night in the Red Frog Pub and the noise carried out to the Alchemy Bar (our favorite).  The Sunrise certainly was my least favorite ship but we love to sail out of NYC and if it was the only choice and the price is right, we might sail her again, but then again, we might not...

We just got off the Sunrise this morning - the deli was soooooo slow...there were only 6 people ahead of us on a port day, 5 people working and it took over 20 minutes to get 2 hot dogs and a turkey wrap.   I waited for about 30 minutes for pizza.  The buffet was a zoo, no matter what time we went in there (except for dinner and it was a pretty lousy meal).   Guys Burgers were good and the line moved fast.  Blue Iguana's line wasn't too bad.  Never tried Lucky Bowl but not very many people waiting.  Never saw a line at Pig and Anchor.  We never waited more than 2 minutes to have breakfast/brunch in the dining room - excellent food and service!  

If our reservations are linked do I have to make sure we are seated at the same table or would that be automatic?  We all have 8:15 seating, confirmed, 3 cabins linked together....

6 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Thanks!!  My pleasure sharing, more pics from my camera and a wrap up coming. 

Great pictures!  Can't wait for your review!  We'll be on her very soon...

6 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

 Someone else asked if there was a iced tea/lemonade station at pig and anchor and the answer is no.  When I asked others they said they put pitchers out there.  

 

 That was me, Jimbo!  Thanks for the information.  Hope you feel 100% better soon!!

6 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

 

Jimbo - do you know if there is a self serve ice tea, lemonade, water station near Guy's Pig and Anchor?  I read somewhere that there wasn't.  Thinking of heading right up there on embarkation day to avoid the buffet.  We bringing first time cruisers with us and don't want the chaos of the buffet to set the tone for the week!  

Thank you!  

I have just spent the last half hour trying to figure that out!!  It used to be easy....???  I was just about to ask the same question!

So glad you are doing a review while on board!  I have followed you in the past.  We will be on the Sunrise the end of August.  I will be anxiously awaiting your next post!  Thank you for doing this!!

I thoroughly enjoyed your review!  Loved all the pictures.  You have a beautiful family.  We will be going on the Sunrise the end of August and I will be sure to say hello to Mark, if he's still onboard!  Thank you so much!