Back on the Sunshine 2/19-2/24 Review

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. I have written two cruise reviews prior to this which you can read by clicking the links below:

Sensation

Sunshine

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 29 years old and am lucky enough to live in Florida so taking cruises is more affordable and easier to do than for many people. This is my seventh cruise with Carnival (ninth overall) and my second time on the Sunshine having just sailed on her in December.

My last trip on her was with my mother. She gave cruising a try, and it wasn't for her. This time I am sailing with my good friend and frequent cruise buddy M. I had a blast on the Sunshine with my mom and I can't wait to experience it again this time with M.

We last cruised together on the Sensation over Halloween (and my birthday) and it was on that trip that we each received vouchers for free cruises for our large donations in the casino. This was when we first noticed some changes with the casino rewards program. Because we had earned it on a five day cruise, we could only use it on a five day cruise. That makes sense and may sound fair, but it is based on a point system so we earned the same number of points to qualify as someone who sailed on a seven day cruise, and should get rewarded the same.

No big deal and as it turns out we found some great options available. Our trip on Sensation was fun, but not really the experience we were looking for except for a quick getaway, so we were excited to see options available on the Sunshine. To me the Sunshine is a perfect ship to sail on for five days and still get the full week experience.

About two weeks after we used our vouchers, shi... crap hit the fan in the casino department. They stopped giving out the vouchers for free cruises and instead replaced them with vouchers for reduced fare cruises. Free cruises are still available for very high rollers, but that will probably exclude me going forward. I will continue to gamble with what I am comfortable gambling with, as gambling for comps is never a good idea, but honestly if I can get more bang for my gambling buck with another line (which I now can) I do not see myself staying with Carnival much longer. I understand why Carnival needed to make a business decision to revamp their program, but I am very interested to sail other lines and now have a good reason to consider it.

I will get off my soap box now and enjoy my (probably) last free cruise (that isn't really free) but I will get back on it in my summary section to see if I notice any changes first hand (hope I at least still qualify for a reduced fare cruise). I did want to at least touch on the subject because I am sure it is affecting other gamblers as well. I will touch on the subject much more on my Casino Premiere cruise I take in April.

In the weeks leading up to this cruise, trouble was a brewing. M was having a lot of problems at work and was unsure if she could still get the time off. I was bummed because I was really looking forward to seeing her and enjoying this ship with her. I had a great time with my mom, but it just felt different without M there. To make things worse, this was a free trip booked on my card (I paid the taxes) and if M was a no show, there was a chance that Carnival would charge my card full rate as a penalty of her not showing up. In fact it is stated in black and white on the terms and conditions that that is what would happen, but I have heard they only do that if you cancel not if you are a no show.

A no show was the last resort, but thankfully it did not come to that at the last minute things fell into place and she was able to make the trip. Things were up in the air for a while and it made it hard to get too excited about the trip so I am glad things worked out.

I booked my parking again at the Country Inn & Suites located just down from the cruise terminal in Pt.Canaveral. M booked with someone else who was advertised as being cheaper. But check closely, they charged her for six days instead of five. I am not sure if maybe that is the norm, but when I book with Country Inn & Suites they only charge me for five days, so it becomes cheaper.

This is the first time M and I have traveled separately as we usually leave from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale and she lives down that way. I was glad to not have to travel so far this time but she is not big on traveling alone. Or doing anything alone really lol. We were going to meet at the parking area but when I booked somewhere else we decided to meet at the port instead.

M is not good at being anywhere on time, and is the complete opposite of me when it comes to getting on the ship. I want to get on as soon as possible and finally had that chance on my last cruise (even made it first in the RFP) but M would rather get there last minute because according to her you can't do much until you sail away anyway. That may be true, but I would rather do nothing on a cruise ship, than do nothing at home.

We had planned to meet at the port at noon, but I waited too long to book my shuttle and the earliest they had available was 12:45 so we changed it to 1. Probably for the best because honestly I am not too sure that M would have made it to the port by noon, that would be earlier than she has been yet (current on board record for her is 12:51).

I left my house at about 10:30 but then things started going wrong. I tried to take a picture and realized I had left my SD card inside my computer. I turned back around and had the hardest time getting the card out of my computer. This put me behind by a few minutes so I was in a bit of a hurry now.

M called and she was running way behind (shocking) as she had run into problems getting her documents printed. At this point, it should have been my cue to slow down. If I was on time I would just be waiting for M even longer because she was going to be late. Instead I was now even more rushed because I would need to print her documents for her before getting on the shuttle.

So here I am, driving down I-95 and talking on the phone (which I NEVER do) not paying any attention when I hear a siren and see the blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. CRAP!!!! DOUBLE TRIPLE CRAP ON A CRACKER!!! I make my way over and pray he is not pulling me over, no luck he follows me all the way over to the shoulder. It was FHP.

I was a nervous wreck and I did not have my registration and insurance card on me which got me in even more trouble. Apparently I was doing 92 in a construction zone. I cannot say that I wasn't because I was not paying attention like I should have been. I can say that I was going no faster than the vehicles in front of me. That doesn't matter I know and at the end of the day I was wrong and I have to suck it up and pay the consequences for being so irresponsible. I ended up with a ticket for $168 and according to the officer, he understated my speed because normally that speed in a construction zone would require a court date and automatic arrest. Maybe he was just saying that, but holy crap what a horrible vacation this would have been if I ended up in jail!

Ok, things are not going too great so far. It is easy to let little things go so that you still enjoy yourself, but this was not little. I was determined to get past it so I could enjoy myself, but it was going to take a while because this really brought my spirits down.

I arrived at the hotel with about five minutes to spare but needed time to print out M's health questionnaire. Her boarding pass had printed out with mine so that was taken care of at least, and she never prints her luggage tag anyway. They were able to reschedule me for 1 (ended up being 1:15 by the time I got everything taken care of - oops). Their printers still did not work so I emailed them the file I needed. They were not able to get into their email (claim it was a problem on the email side, not their computer but it was gmail for goodness sake, when has gmail ever be down?). No big deal the only thing missing was her health questionnaire and they had extra of those at the port. Little thing that could be looked past. But added in with the big thing, I was really off to a bad start.

I missed the next shuttle so had a little down time before the final shuttle at 1:15. Finally I made it onto the shuttle and one step closer to my first funship which I desperately needed at this point!

I spy not one, but two whale tails!

Other ships in port today, not very good shots but amateur photographer + moving vehicle = not very good shots lol.

Oasis Of The Seas

Disney Wonder

Carnival Sunshine (my new home!)

Carnival Liberty

Disney always gets the biggest "ooohs" and "ahhhs" from the other passengers on the shuttle. If I could afford it I would probably go just to experience it. But I am strictly quantity over quality and will gladly take 2-3 carnival cruises over 1 disney cruise. One day though, when I don't have to worry about a budget :)

As a consolation, Sunshine did get some admiration thanks to the big water slide. Followed by disappointment when they realized it was not their ship. Score one for my ship hehe.

I arrived at the port around 1:30 and waited for m for about a half an hour. My boarding passes had to be reprinted because they did not contain a bar code for them to scan. Very odd because I printed it right from carnival's website. No big deal though, they reprinted it and got M her health questionnaire and we were on board pretty quick. We did purchase FTTF and arriving this late, it did not save us much time but it did bypass a medium length line. Each person will have to determine if purchasing FTTF is right for them and their situation, but the peace of mind of knowing we have it just in case makes it worth it to us. I can't wait to be platinum though and not need it.

Embarkation was a breeze even if getting there was not! We were on the ship shortly after 2. The first thing M commented on is how the ship is much more mellow in appearance than most Carnival ships. It was not designed by their usual interior designer and it a lot more toned down with less dramatic colors and tacky designs. I love the tacky designs, but I guess carnival is moving away from that look with their newer ships.

Sunshine Atrium

First thing we did was make our way to our room. Our room for the week was 6207 located directly above the casino.

We had some trouble finding it at first even though I knew where it was from looking at the deck plans. Normally you turn one way for odd numbered cabins and another for even numbered. Our room was located in a hallway in the middle and was very close to the stairs and elevators. When we did find it we thought we still had not found it because there was a plate of discarded food sitting by our door. M was concerned it was still there from the last cruise but it could not have been as it was from Guy's and not breakfast. It was still kinda gross that someone else left their tray by our door instead of their own.

First the bad, their was a faint smell of smoke in our hallway being so close to the casino.

The great, our room was shaped differently and I am pretty sure it is a larger than standard sized room! I definitely want to try to book this type of room again anytime I am on a ship that has them.

Much roomier than what I am used to!

There are a few things wrong with this picture though. The beds are together. I know this can be done right because they finally got it right on my last cruise with my mom. I am used to that not being right though and am not sure why they even bother to ask ahead of time.

The more troubling thing though, because it has happened three times in a row now, is none of our VIFP items are in the room. I stopped worrying about the pin because it said 2016 and I understood there was a shortage. But this is 2017, where is my pin lol. I also needed my water and my drink coupon. It is little things, but they do matter. It has always been easy to get these things once we bring it up, this time it was way too hard. More on that later.

A couple other things were missing, but they were M's fault. She usually orders some cases of water and a bottle of Skyy for the room before the cruise. She forgot to this time. I reminded her and she swears she ordered them, but there is no record of a charge on her credit card, so her memory is playing tricks on her. It happens when you start cruising often I guess lol.

She ordered two cases of water from room service. They brought one case. She had to call again for the other case. She was also able to order the Skyy through room service. I was never sure if that was possible without paying more than you do online, but it is the same price to purchase through them as it is online ahead of time.

Once we got settled in (as much as we could without our luggage) we were starving and made our way to lido for lunch. We headed to the Blue Iguana for some grub. The line was pretty bad. I guess this is normal on embarkation day, but I usually do a better job of eating in a quieter spot the first day. There was nobody waiting for the tacos so we got tacos to avoid the crazy line for burritos. They were okay, but i am not a big fan of soft tacos. This was actually my first time trying them here. They still do not have taco salads like I have seen on two other ships now in John Heald's videos (Vista and Glory). I cannot wait to try one of those!

While eating lunch, a server came by selling Funships. I happily ordered my first drink of the cruise.

Ahhh, I can feel the stress melting away as I take my first sip of a Funship!

We went back to the room to chill out for a bit while waiting for muster and sail away. They usually do muster around 3:30 but it was almost 4 before it started. Once they signaled for it to begin, it was pretty quick and painless. They scan your card now to make sure you are there and I think that helps speed it up, plus the weather was cool so we were not standing out in the heat waiting for the drill to begin.

I was worried with the late start we would miss sail away while we were in the drill, but we did not.

Some more shots of the Oasis from sail away.

M and I both talked a little about venturing onto other lines. I have sailed on NCL previously and M on NCL and Royal. I think it would be neat to sail on the Oasis and had a coworker sail on her last month and said the ship was out of this world fantastic (but the food truly terrible). This is the third time (at two different ports) that I have seen Oasis at sail away. She is following me lol.

After sail away we went back to the room. Our bags had finally arrived. I don't need them fast, but my FTTF tag has failed to deliver my bags early every time I have had it (four times now). Then again maybe this was early because it was after 7 and bags were still being delivered (and the mystery plate of guy's was still sitting by my room as well).

At some point M finally saw our steward out in the halls. She was given the comfort matters sheet that is being rolled out and asked to choose am, pm, or both. I was not there but she says she felt pressured to select one or the other although it was never stated. I think it was just because of how busy he was, not anything he said. She chose PM and I had no problem with that, but figured she would. If that was all she needed I was fine with once a day service. That was a mistake. She also asked for extra towels and extra ice. The towels were never in short supply, ice became a DIY project every time we passed a bar. It's not that he did not bring it, but ice melts before he would be back to replenish it.

We usually play games in the library to pass time on the ships. I pointed her to the Red Frog Pub because I had heard they had games available there and probably a better atmosphere than at the library. We went and M got a drink while I ordered a Cucumber Sunrise from next door at Alchemy (Yum!) We played for a little while but the selection of games weren't really what we were looking for. They had darts, domino's, checkers, shuffleboard and a few other games but not really anything we usually play. The bar service was great though and so was the atmosphere.

We usually make a token effort to not be there as soon as the casino opens. We did not this time. M disagrees but I swear I do not remember ever being there this early. On my last trip on the Sunshine I had a lot of luck playing for a long time without losing much money. That is all I ever hope for as I know the house always wins. This time would be more of a gambling trip and I needed my money to last since I would be playing so much more. I was having fantastic luck once again and was up a couple hundred for most of the first night.

We played for a while until we were hungry and then made our way to dinner around 8pm. On the sunshine if you have YTD you check in on deck 5 right next to the taste bar and then proceed to the dining room on deck three if a table is ready. We did eat during prime time hours each night, so there was a short wait. We ate in the MDR three nights and had about a five minute wait two nights about about a 10-12 minute wait on elegant night.

Pictures of tonight's menu. Not the best quality, but this is the first time I have managed to have the menu pictures turn out at all, so this is progress lol.

I missed the dessert menu somehow and some of the descriptions are cut off. For a better look, the menu appears to be the same as the day 1 menu found here http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalFreedomBC9/menu/mdr_menu.html with the port of call menu being the only difference.

For my starter I had the chilled Vietnamese roll.

I love this dish probably my favorite appetizer of the week.

For my entree I had sweet & sour shrimp and the vegetable lasagna.

Both were very good, although they were not as hot as they should have been.

For dessert I had the WCMC with two ice creams and the nutella tiramisu.

The WCMC was perfect! It is always good, but seldom cooked right. Dessert chef was on his A game tonight just the perfect consistency and much improved from last time when they were over or under cooked each time. The tiramisu was fantastic as well.

Dinner service was great at just over an hour from start to finish. The food was great as well except for some temperature issues with the entrees. They were not cold, but were not quite as hot as they should have been. Great meal overall.

After dinner we did some more casino time and I ended the day up $100. M was not doing good and unfortunately her luck didn't really turn around. One of the casino hosts remembered from last time which surprised me especially since I was not even there much last time. We also saw two dealers we recognized from the Splendor last year as well as a pit boss we met on the Sensation. I love running into people we met on previous trips and it is even cooler that they remember us.

We tried out the late night snacks on Lido. Not overly impressive but a welcome alternative to pizza. It is open until 1am so it is not for the super night owls but still later than other places. They had hot dogs, grilled ham and cheese, chicken foccacia, chips, cookies and brownies available every night. Even when I didn't eat again, I snuck up to lido each night for that chicken foccacia it was yummy ;p

After we sampled the late night eats, we headed to the Liquid Lounge. During the day this is the main show lounge, but at night it becomes a night club. It was not as weird as I would have imagined it would be. The whole concept seems awkward but it was pretty cool. The chairs are painfully uncomfortable but other than that it was a nice time people watching. Just watching, I don't dance lol.

We turned in late tonight, around 3:30am. No picture of the towel animal tonight...because there wasn't one :eek:

It was a great first day on the Carnival Sunshine, although there were some hiccups along the way!

Excellent start! We're going on the Sunshine next month for a 8 dayer and so looking forward to it. Second time for us on this ship. Thanks for taking the time to write this up!

Thanks for the review! Keep it coming!

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Excellent start! We're going on the Sunshine next month for a 8 dayer and so looking forward to it. Second time for us on this ship. Thanks for taking the time to write this up!

Thank you reading along! I would love do an 8 day on Sunshine it is such a great ship! Have a great cruise.

Thanks for the review! Keep it coming!

 

Your welcome and thanks for reading along. I will be back in a couple days to continue the review.

 

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Following along, we dont sail on the Sunshine until next February :eek: Looking forward to the rest of your review. Was the ship rocking and rolling as much as on your last Sunshine ? Wondering if it was because you were so far forward.

Enjoying the rewiew.:)

Following along, we dont sail on the Sunshine until next February :eek: Looking forward to the rest of your review. Was the ship rocking and rolling as much as on your last Sunshine ? Wondering if it was because you were so far forward.

That wait must be torture! It will be worth it though I am sure. Things were much calmer this time. There were two nights out of five things got a bit bumpy and I popped my motion sickness pills. It was probably all in my head, but I was not taking any chances. I wish I could say it was ONLY the forward cabin that caused the sickness but on my first trip when looking out the windows on Lido it appeared that the height of the water kept rising and falling drastically. I doubt the water level was changing but rather the ships height in relation to the water. I am not sure if I am explaining that in a way that makes sense. I did not notice that this time.

Enjoying the rewiew.:)

Thank you! Glad you are enjoying. I love doing them.

Thanks for the review.

That wait must be torture! It will be worth it though I am sure. Things were much calmer this time. There were two nights out of five things got a bit bumpy and I popped my motion sickness pills. It was probably all in my head, but I was not taking any chances. I wish I could say it was ONLY the forward cabin that caused the sickness but on my first trip when looking out the windows on Lido it appeared that the height of the water kept rising and falling drastically. I doubt the water level was changing but rather the ships height in relation to the water. I am not sure if I am explaining that in a way that makes sense. I did not notice that this time.Thank you! Glad you are enjoying. I love doing them.

yes it made total sense thanks, my hubby uses ginger root pills when he is feeling the motion of the ocean ;p our doctor told us to eat when ever we felt sea sick. he said that was a mistake a lot of people make , not eating.

looking forward to more.......

Enjoying your review.

Ok so here is a funny story! I read your previous review of Sunshine before going on this same cruise! (19th to the 24th) I actually saw you one day on this cruise and told my husband "hey I think know that guy from a review on CC". I didn't say hi though because I thought why would he take two cruises in a row on the same ship and if I'm wrong he will think I'm nutts! How funny it really was you. Thanks for the good review!

Thanks for the review.

Your welcome. Thanks for reading along.

yes it made total sense thanks, my hubby uses ginger root pills when he is feeling the motion of the ocean ;p our doctor told us to eat when ever we felt sea sick. he said that was a mistake a lot of people make , not eating.

looking forward to more.......

Fingers crossed it doesn't happen any more. Ain't nobody got time for being sick on a cruise! :p:p

Enjoying your review.

Thanks. Glad you're enjoying. Thanks for reading along.

Ok so here is a funny story! I read your previous review of Sunshine before going on this same cruise! (19th to the 24th) I actually saw you one day on this cruise and told my husband "hey I think know that guy from a review on CC". I didn't say hi though because I thought why would he take two cruises in a row on the same ship and if I'm wrong he will think I'm nutts! How funny it really was you. Thanks for the good review!

OMGoodness that is too funny. I probably would have done the same thing. I did have someone come up to me though who recognized me. You guys have good memories, I don't think I would know what anybody looks like after seeing one photo. Wish I could take two more cruises on the Sunshine, but time to show the rest of the fleet some love :D

Day 2: Freeport

Today we were docked in Freeport. This is my third time in Freeport and is now tied with Grand Turk as my most visited port of call.

The plan today was to sleep in and head into port late today because Freeport is not really a DIY port. You either take a taxi into town, or you stay on the ship. There is plenty to do, but not if you are looking for a cheap and easy port day, which was what we wanted. Well that was not what happened, by 9:30 we were up and we were in port today until 5.

I was already a little off my routine, as the first full day is traditionally a sea day. It kind of threw me for a curve having a port day instead of a sea day. Freeport might as well be a sea day, but M is not really into staying on the ship.

For breakfast we got an omelette from Jiji's. Both Jiji's and Cucina del Capitano have an omelette bar in the mornings. I also got a couple items from the buffet and M sampled some Cuban bites from the Havana Bar. I recall reading a review from the Vista that mentioned they no longer offer food at the Havana Bar but so far they appear to be on Sunshine. I told M about the fresh squeezed Orange Juice because she LOVES fresh squeezed OJ and she was excited to try some, but the machine was down. It would remain broken for the duration of the cruise.

After breakfast we made our way into Freeport. We walked around for a little bit checking out the shops and trying to decide what we wanted to do. We have on a couple occasions walked around on our own but we could not even figure out how to get out of the port area and if my memory serves me correctly, there is really nothing worth seeing within walking distance. Everything is a cab ride away.

We decided to head to Senor Frogs for some drinks by the water. The weather was perfect. It was overcast but not hot at all with just a perfect amount of breeze. The drinks were good and very strong. But very expensive. We did some more walking and found another bar that was much more reasonably priced.

I took pictures that demonstrated how to get there as well as the name. I left the wrong setting on and you can't see anything, for any of my pictures in port today. Basically when you walk off the ship, if you turn left you head to Senor Frogs. But if you turn right, following the music you hear when you first step off the ship, you will reach another bar with a ton of drink specials. They also had games out on some of the tables if you wish to play some games. Much better prices and still right on the water. If we make it back to Freeport we will skip the Frog and go straight here. Again I can't remember the name, but I can make out the word "IRIE" on the sign.

Next door to that was a place that I think was called "Caribbean Kitchen". I did not eat there but the food looked wonderful and everyone who had a plate commented that the food was fantastic.

We spent a few hours by the water listening to music, playing games, and having some drinks and then we made our way back on the ship. It was a great day in port, all things considered. There is plenty to do in Freeport if you plan ahead, but it ranks pretty low on my list of favorite ports. Probably second to the bottom after La Romana (and maybe Belize).

As I said, no pictures of Freeport while I was there, but here are a couple of the port taken from the Sunshine, through a dirty window lol.

The last picture demonstrates where to turn to find this other bar. When you are at the fountain (with no water in it), turn right.

Back on board, the Atrium had a giant flag displayed for President's Day.

For lunch we went to the pasta bar. We tried a few of the different pastas and I found them to be pretty good. Nothing great, but pretty good and they hit the spot. The pasta bar is free for lunch and $15pp for dinner however they use a different menu at supper time. M and I were considering eating dinner here, but she was not impressed with their lunch. Again, it is a different menu for dinner but she was still turned off.

After that we just hung out for a little while until sail away. At sail away I went up to the secret deck to watch us pulling out.

It was here, I realized I had a great vantage point to see something I just could not see very well from the ground. The ships that were in dry dock! When we were walking, I was hoping we could get close to the ship yard even though I knew for safety reasons they probably would not give me a tour lol.

The Carnival Sensation at her dry dock.

The Norwegian Pearl at her dry dock.

After sail away I went back to the casino, with hopes of keeping my good streak going. Not long after I began playing, I earned this.

Score! I was determined not to let it go to waste again like I did last trip when I only got one free drink off it. I am happy to say, it went to good use this trip :).

Tonight was elegant night, and I simply dread the thought of dressing up to be allowed to eat in the dining room when I am on vacation. I understand it is the rule though and if I make the choice to eat there, I will follow the rules. Truthfully though, it is getting harder to make the choice to eat here on elegant night after you've done it a few times.

Tonight's menu.

Tonight there was a longer wait to be seated, about 10 minutes nothing extreme but it was the longest I have yet to wait to be seated. The service once seated, was S-L-O-SLOW. Including the wait to be seated dinner service tonight was a couple minutes shy of two hours. I feel like maybe the staff was spread too thin tonight it did not seem like they could keep up. It does make a difference to the amount of patience I have when the staff is doing all they can to keep up.

For my starter I had the sea scallops.

They were very good.

For my entree I had the roasted duck and Japanese sea bass.

The duck was - well not good at all. I have never had it before so I can't say if it was the dish or if it is something I just don't like. I have tried the duck on Carnival before and liked it but it was prepared differently and looked like ham. This was just bad. That small potato dish it came with was super!

The sea bass. Again not good at all. I usually love fish but I do not care for this. I tried it once before and did not like it, but gave it another shot because I know many times the same dish is prepared better on another ship. This was just as bad as I remember it.

For dessert I got the creme brule and the chocolate hazelnut cake.

Both were very good. The consensus from M and the table next to us was that the creme brule was not prepared the traditional way, but to me it was very good.

I am a much bigger fan of the American Table than most people seem to be on these boards and on John Heald's page. But I am so over this "American Feast" menu available on shorter cruises. I don't care that the lobster is missing, it was not very good quality lobster anyway, but the overall items on this substituted menu just don't taste very good. Worse, my favorite dish is missing. Is spaghetti carbonara really that expensive they needed to cut it out of the shorter cruises menu?

Rant over, but overall not a great night in the MDR. The food and service both fell short, although I can appreciate that the dining room staff were doing their best.