Carnival Sunshine Coming to Port Canaveral vs. Freedom of the Seas

[Robinola]

Oh my! Talk about Torn Between Ships! The Carnival Sunshine is coming to Port Canaveral (within driving distance for me) looks Amazing...What should I do?! Stay with Freedom of the Seas or switch to Carnival Sunshine......

[Tapi]

You are aware that the Carnival Sunshine is a refurbished ship built 17 years ago, and about 2/3 the size of Freedom of the Seas, right? In addition to that, they added a couple hundred cabins during the refurbishment making it one of the ships with the worst space to passenger ratios.

 

With that said, Carnival did do a great job taking an old ship and making it look modern and contemporary. If you choose to do the Sunshine, do so with realistic expectations.

[yogimax]

Totally your call... but let me ask...

 

1. Does Carnival have an ice show?

2. Does Carnival have a Royal promenade?

3. Forget the rest, there's too much!

 

But did you know the last J. D. Power Survey had Carnival #7 (last) out of the seven major cruise lines for customer service?

[HB Cruiser]

You are going to have to be the one to answer that question.

 

We just took our first Carnival cruise (Breeze) this past May after 20+ RCCL cruises because we "wanted something different." Well, we got that difference. Don't get me wrong, we had a WONDERFUL time, how could you have a bad time on a cruise unless something serious occurs?

 

After our experience, we will stay with RCCL. There is no cut and dried reasoning, nothing to validate our experience other than we like this better than that, but it is again, an opinion. Are we glad we tried Carnival, yes, as stated earlier, had a great time. Will we try Carnival again, not likely.

 

One major difference I can tell you with proof, Carnival has almost no live music compared to RCCL. If you like the live music at the shows, around the pools, and some of the bars, you will not get it on Carnival. Being a musician in my younger days, I really missed this on the Breeze.

 

The best answer I will give anyone is this, whichever line you take and cruise you take, you ARE GOING TO HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!

 

Tim

Edited June 30, 2013 by HB Cruiser

[Aquahound]

Oh my! Talk about Torn Between Ships! The Carnival Sunshine is coming to Port Canaveral (within driving distance for me) looks Amazing...What should I do?! Stay with Freedom of the Seas or switch to Carnival Sunshine......

 

Give up FOS for the renamed Destiny? I think that's crazy, but you must have reasons for considering it. Good luck and enjoy whichever you choose.

[riclop]

oh my! Talk about torn between ships! The carnival sunshine is coming to port canaveral (within driving distance for me) looks amazing...what should i do?! Stay with freedom of the seas or switch to carnival sunshine......

fos.

[wanderingjew]

Oh my! Talk about Torn Between Ships! The Carnival Sunshine is coming to Port Canaveral (within driving distance for me) looks Amazing...What should I do?! Stay with Freedom of the Seas or switch to Carnival Sunshine......

If you are going at a peak time I would avoid Sunshine I would wait until you hear reviews like during Xmas NYE & School breaks to hear how crowded Sunshine is

[Robinola]

Wow, that was an overwhelming response to stick with Freedom of the Seas...ok, I feel better about my decision. Thank you!

 

p.s...I Love that picture of Tapi The Dog.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Robinola

[HB Cruiser]

Wow, that was an overwhelming response to stick with Freedom of the Seas...ok, I feel better about my decision. Thank you!

 

p.s...I Love that picture of Tapi The Dog.

 

And if you post the question on the Carnival board you will probably get a completely different answer. ;)

 

Tim

[The Big Booper]

The Sunshine is the former Destiny, the lowest ranked ship in the Carnival fleet. Even the Carnival cheerleaders are leery of that one.

[Tapi]

And if you post the question on the Carnival board you will probably get a completely different answer. ;)

 

Tim

 

You'd be surprised. There's been a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction on the Carnival board recently. There are still many hardcore Carnival loyalists, but when people post comparison questions, many times the overwhelming response has been to sail on a different cruise line. Even when the Freedom of the Seas has been compared to the Carnival Dream (a much newer and larger ship than the Sunshine) people have overwhelmingly suggested the Freedom of the Seas.

[Tapi]

p.s...I Love that picture of Tapi The Dog.

 

Thanks! :D

[Robinola]

I youtube'd it, and it looks wonderful...

I think I'm going to stick with FOS, I'm already booked...

I'm a waffler! I go back and forth, have cruised many lines, and always have a wonderful time, no matter what. But I fret over my decision every time.

I drive myself crazy!

I'm going to post on the Carnival website too, just to see the response.

This should be interesting....

I'll let you know. :)

[HB Cruiser]

You'd be surprised. There's been a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction on the Carnival board recently. There are still many hardcore Carnival loyalists, but when people post comparison questions, many times the overwhelming response has been to sail on a different cruise line. Even when the Freedom of the Seas has been compared to the Carnival Dream (a much newer and larger ship than the Sunshine) people have overwhelmingly suggested the Freedom of the Seas.

 

I DID notice that when I was watching the CCL boards proir to our sailing on the Breeze.

 

Even with the Breeze being a newer ship and after going on it, it does not even compare with Freedom. I know that is not the question here but I would rather be on the FOS!

 

Tim

[Cruisegirl6]

You have got to be kidding OP....you give up the FOS you do yourself all wrong! You can't compare the Sunshine which is a very small ship one of the smallest ones sailing in all the major cruise lines, she is very old, yes she was refurbished and looks nice but you be making a mistake changing from FOS to the Sunshine.

 

RC gives you much better variety/selection/quality of food in the buffet trust me!!

 

RC gives you better quality shows

 

RC service overall is ALWAYS excellent

 

FOS much better nicer ship with more selection of things to do

 

Pool areas so much nicer

 

Main decks a lot nicer than Sunshine

 

The list goes on and on...let me tell you something, we just got off NCL brand new Breakaway...she had too many petty negatives that just add up to us, she does show and feel like she holds 4k passengers, I been on the FOS twice and LOS her sister ship twice in the past 6 years, trust me stay with FOS! After the Breakaway, we know that RC is the best cruise line (haven't cruised celebrity which is owned by RC) and we are back to RC....that should tell you all.

[Tapi]

You can't compare the Sunshine which is a very small ship, one of the smallest ones sailing in all the major cruise lines,

 

Ok. Let's be objective here for a minute. At 101,000 tons, Sunshine is not the largest, but she's far from being one of the smallest cruise ships.

[Cruisegirl6]

trust me if you take the ships RC have, Celebrity have, Princess and NCL have she is the smallest one. But small is quaint its a good thing to, I loved RC Monarch of the Seas made so many friends when I cruise on her because she was small and quaint and when we spoke to people we saw them again it was nice on a larger ship you may meet people and never see them again.

[Clarea]

trust me if you take the ships RC have, Celebrity have, Princess and NCL have she is the smallest one. But small is quaint its a good thing to, I loved RC Monarch of the Seas made so many friends when I cruise on her because she was small and quaint and when we spoke to people we saw them again it was nice on a larger ship you may meet people and never see them again.

Sunshine is about 26,000 tons larger than Monarch. Sunshine is also larger than all 6 Vision class ships and all 4 Radiance class ships.

[Big_G]

The Carnival ship formerly known as Destiny is not in the same class as Freedom of the Seas. There have been nothing but complaints on Sunshine since she prematurely sailed out of dry dock.

[Robinola]

Ok....so I guess I am staying with FOS.

It will be wonderful, I am sure.

Been on many Royal Ships in the past,

Monarch a couple of times, Mariner, never cared for Princess or NCL.

Really liked The Dream Carnival had. Went twice on her.

 

So far one posting on the carnival website told me to stick with fos.

 

ps........Tapi's a goood doggie.....such a good doggie........:)

 

Dog Lover.

[UNV-IT!!!]

Ok....so I guess I am staying with FOS.

It will be wonderful, I am sure.

Been on many Royal Ships in the past,

Monarch a couple of times, Mariner, never cared for Princess or NCL.

Really liked The Dream Carnival had. Went twice on her.

 

So far one posting on the carnival website told me to stick with fos.

 

ps........Tapi's a goood doggie.....such a good doggie........:)

 

Dog Lover.

 

Smart choice.

[sail2sea]

Sunshine is coming to Port Caneveral? I had no idea. Shows how much I follow Carnival these days. And I used to cruise with them exclusively. I liked Carnival's Dream too, and I still plan to go through with the Carnival Breeze cruise I booked.

 

But Sunshine vs Freedom OTS? This has to be one of least difficult decisions out there. :p ;)

 

Anyway, hope you have a great cruise! :D

[Cruisegirl6]

Robinola glad your staying with FOS, and I have to agree I do not care for NCL much too many negatives, been awhile since I been on Princess so not right for me to judge. I love love love the Dream my favorite Carnival ship but she leaves FL to NOLA soon, too bad. You will love FOS trust me if you don't want to go I go for you lol.

 

I love dogs too.

[ticktoneer]

Stick with Freedom of the Seas.

 

I sailed Destiny (now sunshine) last year and I would rather have sat in a dark room with no food and pulled my finger nails out with pliers !

 

It was so crowded last year and I can believe they have added on a substantial number of new rooms in its dry dock.

 

You will queue for an hour for food, won't ever find a bed around the pool, will take 30 minutes to get a drink and . . . . Shall I go on ????

 

Have a great cruise on FOS :):):)

[deborahjo]

The Sunshine is the former Destiny, the lowest ranked ship in the Carnival fleet. Even the Carnival cheerleaders are leery of that one.

 

Not true. The Paradise, Sensation and the Fasination are the oldest and smallest of Carnivals fleet.