5 Day Sunshine Review 12/26-12/31

Preamble:

I love reading other people's cruise reviews while waiting for my next cruise to begin. It makes the time between cruises go by a little quicker. You can read my first cruise review here. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2426731

A couple disclaimers, I LOVE cruising and always have a good time. But I like to be honest in my review. Everything is not perfect on a cruise and I do intend to include the bad with the good. Just because I complain, does not mean I did not have a great time.

Also, I may not hit on everything that interests you as a cruiser. I would say from reading many reviews that my cruise style is different from the norm, and that is okay. Please feel free to ask questions though about something I do not cover and I will do my best to answer anything that you would like to know about.

About Me:

I am a 29 year old single guy who is lucky enough to live in Florida so taking cruises is more affordable and easier to do than for many people. This is my sixth cruise with Carnival and my first time on the Sunshine.

I am cruising with my mother and this is her first time taking a cruise on Carnival. We took a cruise once before on the Grand Celebration. It was a horrible experience and I see the reviews are more favorable now than they were when we sailed but it really left her with a negative impression of cruising. I am a huge fan of cruising and am hoping to redeem the idea on this trip. I am not sure it can be done even if we have a good experience this time around, but I am excited to give it a shot.

My last cruise I spent enough time and money in the casino that they awarded me with a free cruise offer. We had planned to go on a cruise together on 1/3 on the Splendor because those dates would line up with when she had off for winter break (she works for the school board). Once I got the cruise offer we booked this cruise instead because the offer is only good on select sailings and the one we were looking at was not included.

It was nice that I was able to find a cruise available that fit into her winter break, but it was probably not the best ship or itinerary to pick to attempt to make her fall in love with cruising. Many parts of any review are subjective, but the overall theme is that the Sunshine is a crowded ship and that makes sense because of all the additional rooms built and public spaces taken away to build those rooms. More people + less public areas = crowded ship. I think crowding and waiting in lines are things that she will not enjoy, but she does not use the internet so she will not know about the crowding and so if it is not really a problem, she will not notice it.

As for the ports, we are stopping at Grand Turk and Amber Cove. I have not been to Amber Cove but it seems to be a nice place to enjoy the beach and other water activities - and not much else. I have been to Grand Turk, and it is an amazing beach (except for the sea weed) but not much else. She is not a beach person and I am worried she will not enjoy herself very much. We browsed through the excursions and nothing really caught her attention. Honestly when reading the ones in Grand Turk, it was hard to read it and not giggle at how lame they all sounded. But no point worrying about this now, we are booked and I will do my best to make sure she has a good time. I will enjoy myself either way.

I am not use to being the planner, I usually cruise with my good friend and cruise buddy M and she handles all the planning. It is certainly more stressful dealing with the paperwork and parking arrangements yourself, but I think the tradeoff will be worth it traveling with a newbie!

Day 1: Embarkation

As usual I was up pretty early, excited and ready to get this vacation started. I was up around 5AM with nothing really left to do but pack the last minute items and head out. My mom took over my role as the nag bugging the other person to hurry up like I usually do with M. The difference is I don't turn into nag mode until there is a reason to, not at 6 in the morning with a 90 minute drive to the port. I will try to be a little more patient with M as I see how annoying it is, but honestly there is a difference between 6am and 1pm.

We made our way out the door a few minutes after 7. I was not really a fan of being THIS early but it did beat the alternative of running behind like usual with M. We made one pit stop about five minutes out of the way before we left town at a CVS. They did not open until 8 so we were out of luck but it did help eat up a few minutes since we were so early.

The directions to the parking lot seemed simple enough so I did not print them or bother to commit to memory. That was a mistake and of course I had no idea where I was going. I am so terrible with directions but I honestly thought I could handle these Take Exit 205 stay on this road until you see the hotel on the left (it was on the right, not sure if I remembered that part wrong or if the directions were incorrect). The side of the street was not the problem though.

Off in the distance I got my first site of the whale tail, no first picture because I was driving. But this was when I went into uh-oh you missed your turn mode. Soon I was almost into the port area and realized I would need to turn around. This was my first time sailing from Port Canaveral but when sailing from Port Everglades and Port of Miami, the road dead ends into the port area but here the road passes by it and continues on in the other direction.

We stopped at a gas station and the clerk did not know where Country Inn & Suites was but by the address she told me where it likely was and explained to me the road keeps going past the port. Ooops. Well we were on our way and really we left just early enough that we had a buffer for my poor ability to follow directions and my last minute dilly dallying that meant I still had not printed my boarding documents :eek:.

I don't have a printer so I had to use the library to print my papers and I waited until Saturday. Well the Library was closed on Saturday for Christmas Eve (and Friday for that matter, which is when I intended to go until I had to work late, not that that is not still waiting until the last minute lol). I looked up the library hours for every county I would pass through, they were all closed on Monday in observance of Christmas. What a wonderful library system we have, when a holiday falls on a day they already have off, they just take three extra days off anyway.

My next plan was to just print it out at the hotel, I figured most have a computer area so I would just print them there. But when I went to print, nothing happened. I looked at the printer and it was out of toner. Wonderful. I spoke to the front desk and they were very helpful. They gave me an email address to send it to and they would print it for me from there.

I would recommend Country Inn & Suites for your parking needs, they were very helpful and even though they were very busy, they were great at multi-tasking to help multiple people at once. I actually booked through Parkway Parking, not sure if that makes a difference, but both companies were a breeze to work with, which is not always the case when you book with the cheapest rate you find.

We had the earliest shuttle time available, 1030. We were there a little early still probably around 10 so there was a small wait but we waited in a nice comfortable conference room until it was time to be shuttled over. Soon we were on our way.

My first view of the whale tail where I could actually get a shot.

It is way off in the distance, but you can't miss it.

It was a very quick drive to the port, the driver did a great job of explaining things and so did the porter.

I was fortunate enough to grab FTTF again for this cruise. I was not keen on paying $69.95 and told myself I would think long and hard before paying that much. I did not purchase it right away even though it said limited availabilty. I still checked everyday and it said "only 9 tickets left" then all of a sudden it said only 1 left so I threw out my plan of thinking it over, and scooped up the last remaining FTTF. It was probably not worth it, but the peace of mind of knowing it is there in case you do need it, makes it worth it to me and I will probably continue to purchase it until I reach platnum. Each person will need to evaluate their own situation to determine if it is right for them and their circumstances.

Check-in was a breeze there was no line in priority we just walked right up and got checked in in under two minutes. Even not in priority we probably would not have had a long wait, but again I enjoyed the peace of mind of having it. They began boarding at 11AM even though our paperwork said it would not begin until noon. I had figured they said that in case things backed up people would not complain but as I had never been this early I was not sure that boarding would begin this quickly.

When boarding they use a handhelf scanner now instead of the tradtional way that made the "ding" sound. I know it is silly, but I really miss hearing that sound that meant you were officially on your ship. They also used this to take our picture. I guess I was suppose to have my picture taken, but my last two cruises they used my passport photo so I didn't really pay attention to the lady at check in when she told me where to have my picture taken. I guess this port does not do that yet. I'll pay better attention next time.

Once onboard, I had a mission. It was not something I gave any thought to and then it hit me the day before the cruise. This was my first time sailing on a ship with the Red Frog Pub (since 2014 when I had no clue who John Heald was) and I knew I would be on early, something that will never happen when I sail with M. So I thought, hey why not try to be first in the RFP. I have heard you have to be a B2Ber or Diamond/Platinum to have a shot, but thought what the heck lets give it a shot.

I checked the deck plans to scope out my route the night before. With the plan fresh in my head, I made my way up. I did not run but I did walk pretty fast. I did not see anyone around except crew members who all seemed surprised to see me. I turned into the RFP and held my breath (not really I was huffing and puffing from my brisk walk - out of shape I am). I didn't see anyone else and I asked the bartender if I was first. He acted confused but then said I was first and I got a free drink.

SCORE!

I cannot believe that I won the contest! He said I got a free beer but I don't drink beer so I said a soda would be fine. I didn't care about the drink, it was just fun to win. But he said how bout a pina colada then. That I would drink :)

First in the Red Frog Pub.

I am a mess in this photo, I didn't bother shaving because hey I am on vacation and I don't do selfies or take photos. Now I wish I had since this was on JH's BookFace and now here for the whole world to see.

As I was putting down my information, another man entered with his family in tow. He asked if he was first (hello am I invisible lol) and the bartender still acted confused but then told him no. I don't think the bartender was fully awake yet, this guy acted kind of strange the whole time. Strange might not be the word, awckward would be better, like he was not used to interacting with people. Which as a bartender - is strange.

I was excited to win, and as I said I will probably not have a chance again because M will never be this early. But I do wonder what the point of the contest is? I assume it is to promote the RFP brand as I was told to scoot over because the logo had to be visible in the photo. But my drink was free, and I did not return later to purchase one the entire cruise. The family who showed up, turned and left with no purchase either when they found out they were not first. I hope it is just a fun little thing they do for JH's followers, if that is the only intendted goal it is serving its purpose.

After this, I went back to the atrium where my mother was waiting for me. I was hoping that with it being the day after Christmas the ship would still be decorated and I was pleased to see that it was.

They were also playing Christmas music in the background. It made it feel very special and almost like being on a Christmas cruise which I probably will never be able to get the time off for work approved to do. The music felt out of place by the end of the week, but it was very nice at the time.

Some more shots looking down into the atrium.

Looking up.

Atrium bar later in the day once more people were onboard.

We made our way up to our room which was 8109. I made a bit of a mistake when booking this room and regretted it almost as soon as I committed to it. This was very far forward in fact there was only one room more forward than mine. I booked it because I could book anything from a 4A-4F for free so why not take 4F. I prefer the empress deck and only took this room because it is still sandwiched between two decks of cabins like the empress deck, but I should have taken a 4F on Empress and been mishap which would have been better than deck 8 this far forward. Plus being two decks from Lido, I could have convinced myself to take the elevator when I was tired, being only one away I forced myself to take the stairs every time.

That mistake was all on me for not thinking it through completely before I booked, but lesson learned. Other than that issue that was my fault, the cabin was fine except for one issue that I will discuss later.

My home for the week.

In 8 cruises, this is the first time I walked in to twin beds. I honestly did not think there was a point to setting your bedding preference because it has never once been correct. Now I know that it is possible for them to get this right lol.

Once we got settled in, we made our way to lunch. I had no real preference so I let mother choose, and she chose the Mongolian Wok. I was excited to get to try this again as the first time I had it was on Splendor and it was not good but I wanted to give it another chance. The lines were too long on Sensation (which I have heard is normal for the venue, but it was outside and just not worth the wait outside to try it again). I doubt we were actually first by this time, but there was nobody else there when we arrived.

My first lunch onboard Sunshine.

It was fantastic, very spicy and a very generous portion of shrimp. My best lunch on Sunshine and I look forward to eating there again in February. They do have milder sauces, but I found them bland last time so I decided to try the spiciest one and it was fantastic.

There were crew stationed at all the major intersections welcoming you onboard and asking if you needed help finding anything. They were EVERYWHERE. No shortage of staff on this sailing their presence was almost overwhelming, but it was a very nice touch especially for new cruisers who have no clue where to go or how to navigate the ship.

Another nice touch, was the roving drink servers handing out complimentary champagne. I am not sure if that was unique to this sailing or if this was something they do now on embarkation day. I said no thank you probably three times when one of them said the magic word "complimentary". Then I took him up on it and enjoyed a glass.

After lunch we walked around the ship for a bit. We were in port today with the Disney Dream.

After walking around a bit I had built up my appetite enough to go for a burger. I just wanted the burger and was going to give mother my fries, but she got her own fries so I ate it all.

I don't know if it was because I was not hungry, but this burger was just okay. Not bad, but not as good as I remember. This has been the trend now for my last two cruises that offered Guy's. Is the quality different, or are my taste buds no longer able to look past how terribly bad for me these things are? I will hold my horses on my next trip and wait to get one until I am hungry because I want these to be as good as I remember them being again.

In the weeks leading up to the cruise, one of the things I was worried about was muster. Not for me, but for my mother. She has trouble standing for long periods of time, and I was worried about her not being able to handle the muster drill. I asked her and she said she could not do it, so I emailed the special needs team. I did not know how that was going to go as she is not "legally" handicapped per se and where does Carnival draw the line in determining who needs to attend the special needs muster and who just does not want to attend the regular drill. I know my mother is in need, but how does Carnival?

I explained my situation to carnival and they were very helpful. They said the response time would be three business days, I am not sure why so long but on the third day they responded that they had made note of my request and to inform guest services once onboard and they would give her instructions where to go for muster.

We went to guest services (in the very handy priority line) and they took down her information and she was all set. Carnival definitely came through for me on this one.

At some point in the afternoon I made my way back to the room to check on luggage. It did not arrive early like it should have for FTTF and if I had needed it I would have been a little ticked, but it was not important to me so it was no biggie. But I was a little concerned as I was walking up to my bag when it did arrive. It had clearly been through something traumatic and it was beat all to hell. It was also open and I now have to keep the two zippers together in order to zip it shut. I was worried about missing items, but as far as I can tell everything is accounted for.

I don't know where the problem lies, with the porters or with Carnival. I will not be tipping porters anymore unless I hand them my bag, as my bag was in a pile and he really did not know which bag was mine when I tipped him. If I am tipping BEFORE a service is rendered, it is to buy good service rather than reward good service which you cannot buy if the porter does not know your bag from the rest of the pile. I have an old bag, but it always comes back to me with additional noticeable damage each time it goes through this process. I am considering carrying on from now on as long as I have FTTF. I usually have a fan that I am carrying too so this may be more than I can carry, but it is something I will consider.

Now it may very well have been the porter's fault, but why was it delivered to me opened? Why not zip it up, or if they were worried about damaging it further if they fiddled with the zipper, just not delivered it and had me come claim it? My mom's case did not have any visible damage, but when she opened it up, her pill organizer had been crushed, luckily her medication was intact (I did warn her about packing this instead of putting it in a carryon).

Not a big deal and it did not impact my vacation enjoyment, but it could have. Something very bad definitely happened to our luggage.

Soon enough, it was time for the dreaded muster drill. I did not want to take advantage and attend the special needs drill, although I probably could have. I usually wait about five minutes after they call muster before I make my way down. This is so I can end up in the front row instead of being sandwiched in the middle of two rows of people. It makes it a little more bearable for me. That was not happening today. Literally as soon as the alarm sounded, there was a knock at my door. Seriously?

I made my way down walking as slowly as I could to my muster station. They check you in now by scanning your S&S card but there was a lady standing next to me, and the lady just assumed we were together and I saw her mark off my mother as in attendance, so maybe still a little work to do to ensure accuracy but it is no doubt far more accurate than the head count they used to do.

I ended up in a middle row but I will say this muster drill was very painless. First of all, it was quick likely because of the new check in process as well as how quick they did room checks. Also with it being winter, even though it was still warm since it is Florida, it was not a scortcher. The cruise director, Chris, was able to be understood when he spoke and he even provided some comic relief to the drill with his additional commentary. I have heard Dr.E brings his own style to muster, but was not expecting it from Chris. Overall a much smoother muster than I am used to.

My mom's muster was interesting. She said nobody checked them in (so wouldn't anyone there be marked not in attendance?) and there was no crew there period until they demonstrated how to wear the life jacket. They cannot be keeping up with who is actually attending these yet so there is some room for improvement on the back end, but the guest facing front end is much better than it used to be. Hopefully this will be the new norm and not just a one off" success.

After muster it was time for sail away. I did not study the layout very well and could not get a good spot at the front of the ship for sail away. I usually like to go for a forward facing top deck, but those were all taken up by Serenity. Next time I know to use the "secret" deck on either 7 or 6 FWD but I did not think about that at the time because I am used to using a top deck. I considered using the aft, but with this being my first time sailing out of Pt. Canaveral I wanted to see what was in front of me, not behind me.

I ended up enjoying sail away from the main lido deck. It was fun and I enjoyed being just off to the side of the sail away party. I have never attended those before I usually enjoy the quieter spots instead of being with the crowd but the CD was very high energy and made it a lot of fun.

The Disney Dream as we sailed away.

Majesty Of The Seas off in the distance.

The Victory Casino boat. It needs some serious TLC. Hopefully they take better care of it inside than they do outside.

Thanks for the review - we just booked this cruise for next Nov! Looking forward to reading more.

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Thanks for the review - we just booked this cruise for next Nov! Looking forward to reading more.

 

 

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Your welcome and thanks for reading along.

following.

Bye bye Florida, see you in five days.

The sail away party.

My mother commented on how many people were wearing the motion patches behind their ear and commented that she could not even tell the ship was moving. I agreed that it is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

We hung out there for a while then made our way to the library. This is a common hangout spot for M and I but mother really enjoyed it as she loves to read. As a special treat, they had two books available of her favorite author that she has never been able to find anywhere else. What are the odds of her finding it here of all places? Of course this now gave her an excuse to spend too much time reading instead of enjoying the ship, but o well.

following.

I'll be getting back on as your getting off. Bring her back in one piece for me :D

We went to dinner pretty early, which we did most nights. The check-in process was very efficient and this was the only time there all week there was any sort of line to be assigned your table. It is a little different on Sunshine as instead of proceeding right to the dining room, you check in on the Promenade right next to the taste bar. Although there was a line, it moved quick and I am happy to report that there was no wait to be seated all week.

While she checked in, I finally decided to try the Alchemy bar. It's one of those things I always want to do, but never indulge in. This time I would dive right in. I ordered a cucumber sunrise a little nervous that it would be good, it truly sounds awful. It took a long time for him to make my drink, they were working as quickly as they could but these drinks take a bit of time to prepare, so even with only maybe three people ahead of me, it was a short wait. I will concur with everyone else on this one, this drink was fantastic. It was well worth the premium price tag, and if you have cheers definitely do not miss out on this drink.

Drink in hand, I headed down to the MDR for dinner. I do not have any shots of the menus, I just cannot get them to come out not blurry. One day I will invest in a decent camera, but for now no good photos of the menus.

I do have food porn though :D

For my starter I had the chilled Vietnamese roll and the fried calamari.

Both dishes were excellent. This was my first time trying the calamari as I usually get the candied salmon but lately have not cared for that. A wonderful new item for me.

For my dinner I got the sweet & sour shrimp and the vegetable lasagna.

Again both items were excellent!

For dessert I had the Nutella tiramisu.

Absolutely amazing!

The MDR tends to be hit or miss. Tonight was a definite hit. Everything I ordered was wonderful and the service was great. My mom loved the cranberry bread that comes in the bread basket as well as her vegetable lasagna, she said it was her best meal all week.

So a little side story about tonight, since it will become relevant later on. Our waiter tonight was fantastic. I have no complaints about the service and felt he was very good and very personable.

My mother cannot eat a lot at one time, and she ate way too much of the cranberry bread. She was having trouble finishing her lasagna and asked if I thought they would let her take her leftover to go. I said I am not sure but they love to say yes so ask.

Well he said no.

He was very polite about it but he would not grant her request. I have read reviews of servers bending over backwards to make a guest happy and have personally witnessed multiple waiters run up to Lido to get items for M at dinner that they don't have available in the dining room, so I was surprised he said no when all she would need is a plate topper. No big deal though, I moved on and did not give it another thought. My mother, on the other hand, is a big baby. More on that later.

We made our way back to the room and this guy was waiting for us.

My mother loved her towel animals all week, she got a real kick out of them.

She decided she was going to stay in tonight and read her book so I made my way down to try out the casino. I was a little unsure how much time and money I wanted to spend in here this cruise. My wallet could afford a high budget, but I know I would need to save up for my next trip with M that would be much more casino heavy, as well as a solo premiere cruise I booked that would be almost nothing but casino. I decided to just play it by ear.

It is common to go up and down in the casino. Lots of ups and downs if you play for more than just a few minutes. To date, I always do terrible the first day (though most claim to do good the first day "to suck you in") but for the first time ever, I was up!

I was winning almost every hand, and even had this happen.

I was up almost $600 at one point but of course only a fool goes to the casino planning to turn a profit. I was up $310 when I decided to turn in for the night. I played on Carnival's money for quite a while and almost had a drink card when I turned in for the evening a little after 11.

Hands down the earliest I have ever gone to bed on a cruise, but I knew I would be up early since my mom was in bed by 8. She had me call room service to see the earliest they would deliver breakfast, the answer is 5AM for anyone wondering. Me, I just wonder why are you awake that early on vacation unless it is because you are up that LATE on vacation.

This concludes day 1 on Carnival Sunshine, a very wonderful first day.

Loving your review, we sail on the Sunshine in April/17, We are flying in on the red eye from Vancouver Canada, we have fttf, but I just received a email from Carnival saying I will receive another boarding pass emailed to me on the morning of our cruise, do you have to show this at check in? As we will be flying, do you know if there is somewhere to print this at the airport in Orlando after we arrive, or is there wifi at the cruise terminal? Our Canadian data plan is so expensive to use in the States I don't like to use it if I don't have to so I would prefer to print it off :)

Since you were your mother's travel companion on the cruise, there would have been no problem if you accompanied her at the safety drill. Also, I was never challenged when I had issues and couldn't stand during a drill. Fortunately more of the ships hold the drills inside and everyone gets a chance to sit down.

Loving your review, we sail on the Sunshine in April/17, We are flying in on the red eye from Vancouver Canada, we have fttf, but I just received a email from Carnival saying I will receive another boarding pass emailed to me on the morning of our cruise, do you have to show this at check in? As we will be flying, do you know if there is somewhere to print this at the airport in Orlando after we arrive, or is there wifi at the cruise terminal? Our Canadian data plan is so expensive to use in the States I don't like to use it if I don't have to so I would prefer to print it off :)

Thank you, glad you are enjoying it. I'm afraid I don't have a definite answer for you as I have never had to fly so I do not know about wifi at the airport. You will need to show your boarding pass in order to enter the priority line, but as long as it indicates FTTF there will be no problem as it is a visual check no computers. If it is not the most up to date boarding pass the folks at the counter will still know it is you so you should be okay with whatever boarding pass you have now, as long as it indicates FTTF which mine did long before the day of my cruise.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise!

thanks

Since you were your mother's travel companion on the cruise, there would have been no problem if you accompanied her at the safety drill. Also, I was never challenged when I had issues and couldn't stand during a drill. Fortunately more of the ships hold the drills inside and everyone gets a chance to sit down.

I would have just felt weird attending able bodied and thankfully the muster was very painless. Two cruises in a row with a great muster, I must be about due for a real doozy. I would love an inside muster drill like on the newer ships :)

Thanks to everyone reading along. That is all I have for today, but I be back on Friday with day 2 and possibly some of day 3. Hope you will join me then.

Thanks for the review.

Great Review, sailing in 4 days!

Subscribing. Thanks for the review!!