Carnival Sunshine Inaugural US Sailing

[shortstop95]

After months of anticipation we finally sailed aboard the Carnival Sunshine on it's inaugural US voyage last week, Monday 11/18 for a six day cruise to the Western Caribbean. We are 46 and 53 and have sailed over 30 cruises so have fairly realistic expectations of what a cruise should be. We have built our loyalty through Carnival so continue to sail them with them due to price, convenience and comfort. Having sailed the Carnival Destiny last fall before modifications we were very excited to see the ship and see the enhancements.

 

It was an interesting cruise. We are pretty laid back and easy going and it takes alot for us to get tilted. We recognize how hard the staff work and the cutbacks over the last several years- so we don't go in expecting 5 star service aboard a Carnival ship. With that said- I do have to say this was probably the worst service we have ever received aboard a cruise ship. Service in the main dining room was terrible. We were a party of five and on the first night- our table was overbooked. So they had to scramble to seat us. On the table was listed the names of the waiter and his two assistants. So three people assigned to our table. It was horribly service- gettting menus, getting water, having orders taken, first course served, bar service, clearing plates, getting refills. The wait between salads and entrees was nearly a half hour. A couple of two came in a full hour after we did (had my watch on) and they caught up and got their entrees before we did. Food came out cold/ under cooked just an abysmal showing. We shared our concerns with the wait staff. We were brushed off that this was the first night and they don't know what we like yet. We stated that they we like timely service with hot food. We shared our concerns with maitre de and he was most aplogetic. He moved us to a new table the next night where we remained for the balance of the cruise. Service was much improved the second night- in direct reaction to our concerns from the night before- but then fell off each night subsequently.

 

Room steward. I never laid eyes on them the whole trip. Now I know some may think that's good- but room service was not up to what we've come to expect. No turn down service the first night. Room was not made up in the morning until the afternoon somedays. Our welcome aboard letter was delievered on day 5.

 

Entertainment. I'm an old-school fan of the large show lounges that many of the Carnival ships traditionally have. I'm so used to the bench seating with the little tables. This has been removed for the addition of more cabins and a two story Liquid Lounge. While I'm sure most like it- I did not personally care for it. It felt more like a fun house with the neon lights and dark hallway entering into it. The regalness of the old lounge was gone as was the orchestra. The shows were great and very entertaining- but I do miss the old theater style.

 

I also miss the old promenade on deck 5. I used to love to stroll that and see all the people gathered talking, drinking people watching. The promenade is now more narrow with limited seating. On nights when they have the photo displays set up- it becomes a very narrow walk way for people to traverse.

 

Lido dining was interesting as well. It never felt crowded at all the whole week. Not a breakfast or at lunch will really surprised me. Perhaps the ship wasnt sold out- but never had to wait in lines. The new layout is interesting- but felt broken up what with the bank of elevators separating the buffet from the Havana Bar which housed the italiian and asian themed dining stations.

 

Dont' get me wrong any cruise day is a great day. And we again had a wonderful week with good friends. Cheers to cruise director Jamie who was high energy and very visible and her full entertainment team. The crew are extremely hard working. None of these observations ruined our cruise. I just did come away with the general feel that service on the Carnival Sunshine was below the standard we've come to expect.

 

It could have been the luck of the draw with table and cabin assignments. It could have been newness of the Carnival Sunshine team not fully jelled together. It could have been the continued cutbacks that cruise lines are forced to do to keep prices affordable. I'm not sure. Will it stop me from cruising? No. Would I cruise the Carnival Sunshine again? Probably not.

 

Glad to answer any specific questions you might have about the ship or our cruise.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[!!SAM!!]

I was also on this sailing. I have been on more than 75 cruises of which 40 have been with Carnival.

 

I agree with you about the Liquid Lounge. I do not like it at all. I also talked with a couple of bar servers and they do not like it either. Since there are not any tables on the floor to put drinks on the liquor sales are down which means they are making much less money on tips.

 

But I have to disagree with the service for my cabin and dinner table. I had excellent service from both. We also let our waiters know when we wanted to be out more quickly for the comedy shows and they always accommodated us. Our food was always served to the correct temperature also.

 

My cabin attendant was one of the best I had ever had. I made sure to go by guest services and leave a note to how great she was.

 

As far as the rest of the crew - I have to say the senior officers were out and about the ship more than on any other ship I have ever been on. They were always stopping to talk for a few seconds to a few minutes. I have never seen them so accessible from the Captain, Hotel Director, Guest Services Manager, Cruise Director, Assistant Cruise Director and many more.

 

Lido Dining - love the stations as this really does count down on lines. Carnival really got the Lido deck right. I also love the Havana Bar/JiJi/Italian restaurant area. Which could be accessed on the sides as well as from the elevator bank.

 

I also miss the seating along Promenade deck but thought the way they had the photo stations tucked in corners was much better than on most ships. But I did love the Ocean Plaza/Alchemy Bar area.

 

My biggest complaint about this cruise was the debarkation. This was not Carnival's fault but that of New Orleans shore department.

[shortstop95]

Both embarkation and debarkation were challenging- but as you said that's not Carnival's fault. Having cruised for so many years- I remember the old days of paper and standing in line. It's gotten so easy this past several years- we've really gotten spoiled. The terminal was a mad house both days- but again that's not Carnival's control.

 

I'm glad you got great service. I wish we had. It was just very disappointing as we genuinely enjoy the main dining room experience and had some new cruisers with us who did not get to see an accurate representation of what cruise dining is all about.

[golfadj]

Interesting to see how crowded the ship will be during summer months sailing the Caribbean.

[Aplmac]

I'd love to have some cruise-cards / S&S cards from this "new" ship

for my collection. :)

 

This kinda thing...

This is an old one -back when she was Destiny

 

 

 

I don't have any Sunshine cards at all: she's simply too new!

 

If you're in a generous mood, please consider donating a card or two

 

 

Please email me at pcdoctor (at) karibcable dot com

 

I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for your time.

David.

.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Aplmac

[wrigley80]

I will be on the Sunshine in 11 days so it will be interesting to see if things have improved from what you said.

I particularly don't enjoy the big show lounge area so I will like the Liquid Lounge area. I don't like the big show lounge because I have found the seats to be uncomfortable....they sit too low to the floor making it difficult to get comfortable during a show

[bibbysnow]

Interesting, you neither one mentioned the buckets. I hope they have fixed that by now.

[golfadj]

Interesting, you neither one mentioned the buckets. I hope they have fixed that by now.

 

Friends of ours did the TA and said quite a few were still out there.

[shortstop95]

buckets?

[bibbysnow]

buckets?

 

I read complaints that buckets were in the hallways collecting drips.

[shortstop95]

I think maybe I recall one all week- certainly doesn't stand out. No smells either. We were in an aft wraparound so there was a maintenance stairwell right outside our cabin door. There was so odors once or twice that I recall- plus some noise a night or two- but nothing that would rise to the level of a complaint.

[shortstop95]

Interesting, you neither one mentioned the buckets. I hope they have fixed that by now.

 

 

Where on the eastern shore? I grew up in Hillsboro outside of Denton

[lulu_cruising]

Thank you for your review! I will be travelling on the sunshine December 15th and it will be my first cruise. I imagine as I have nothing to compare it to that I will be thrilled with everything!

[!!SAM!!]

I did not see any buckets during the inaugural New Orleans cruise.

[2Ports]

I've read accounts of the ship listing anywhere from 90 to 170 degrees - did you experience that? :p

[gregg204]

Interesting, you neither one mentioned the buckets. I hope they have fixed that by now.

I was also on this cruise and I think I walked every inch possible on this ship. I didn't see one bucket or encounter any oders. I had a wonderful time and after some poor sevice on the first night in the dining room it was smooth sailing for the remainder of the cruise. I agree with the comments on the Promenade deck. The wife and I both missed the seating along that deck.

As for the serenity deck, the comments from other reviews about it being to close to the lido deck is a joke. The serenity decks are huge. Yes you can stay on the lower section and be close to the action of the lido deck or go up a level or 2 and get all the privacy you want. But guess what section always filled up first, the one closest to the lido deck. My favorite spot also.

I also agree there were no issues at all with it being over crowded and there was rarely a line to stand in for food. I know this could change in the summer months with a lot more children on board.

Overall we were very happy and would recommend the Sunshine to anyone.

[gregg204]

I've read accounts of the ship listing anywhere from 90 to 170 degrees - did you experience that? :p

Nope, we did list pretty good making a sharp turn entering the Mississippi River though.

[shortstop95]

I've read accounts of the ship listing anywhere from 90 to 170 degrees - did you experience that? :p

 

 

There was one noticeable list on the last night right as the show was letting out. I was walking upstairs and crossing the promenade and everyone was giggling and laughing over it. Only one that was noticeable.

[Froufie]

Just off the transatlantic and had EXCELLENT service both in the MDR and room stewards - guess it is luck of the draw???

 

Liquid Lounge does take some getting used to (and it was usually freezing in there!). I also prefer the openness and seating options of the more 'traditional' theatre.....

 

During the TA there were a few buckets seen - in a couple of hallways but nothing that would affect my cruise.....and no listing at all. Seas were calm, weather was great except for that one day of rain just before getting to NOLA.

 

And that turn and ride down the river was a bonus - I loved it - took lots of pics and stayed out on the Serenity Deck taking in the scenery (quite different from crossing the Atlantic LOL)....the jazz band playing out by the Beach Pool as we sailed down the Mississippi was icing on the cake :)

 

NOLA disembarkation was a mess and took forever - definitely room for improvement!

[rhinomike]

Curious as to how long it took to disembark? What were the problems? Any pointers or advice?

[BennBilly]

I agree with most everything shortstop95 had to say. We were also on the inaugural cruise 11/18.

 

We very much disliked the Liquid Lounge, virtually no tables, noticed the stage was extremely small compared to other ships we have been on. We didn't order a drink because of this. The lounge itself seemed half the size of most ships we have cruised on. Perhaps that is the reason we only did two shows when we normally go to all of them. Our service in the Sunset Dining Room was pretty good - wait staff was running their legs off so don't know if they had too many tables or what. Food could have been a little hotter but that is a personal preference perhaps. From the very first night the three waiters tending to us never forgot our names. The lido area was more than adequate. Being a bit older, we recognized they had a lot of pub height dining tables/chairs which would be difficult for a lot of older folks and shorter folks. The Cantina Pasta Bar is free at lunch and is quite good. This was a much quieter area to enjoy your meal to.

 

As for our room steward, we met him the first day, he kept ice for us, room and turn down service was done in a timely manner but we never saw him again. We had an ocean view cabin 2208. Our cabin was very nice and comfortable. The shower was a bit larger than normal, however, the area with the toilet/sink was VERY small and to make it worse the door opened into the bathroom rather than the hall which made it seem even smaller. Never saw drips or buckets in the hallways.

 

Greatly missed the seating/tables in the promenade area. I heard lots of folks commenting on this.

 

Embarkation (we are Platinum) in New Orleans went fairly smoothly, we are always very early, through the point of getting our Sign and Sail cards. Then things got a bit chaotic. Debarkation was another story when we got back to New Orleans. We were in the Sunset Dining Room before anyone else showed up (my husband's idea since we drove back to Ft Worth) however, other folks coming down would park at the door to the restaurant and out in the atrium lobby. Sort of a mess.

 

But it was a cruise How bad can things be when you are on a cruise and the nice warm weather in Cozumel and Cayman Island. Great week!

[GROUCHPUSS]

Sounds like you had any time dinning, I have gave up on that dinning option and went back to traditional dinning times after trying ATD 4 times and have been a lot happier. I found that for me there is just too much going on in the dinning room with ATD The waiters are just all over the place and just cannot seem to get into a rhythm, plus there is always people moving in and out of the dinning room and you seem to be sitting on top of the table next to you. ATD also seemed to take longer for us to get in and out.

[bar1068]

I've read accounts of the ship listing anywhere from 90 to 170 degrees - did you experience that? :p

 

I can't believe the BS regarding the Sunshine listing is still being propagated here......

[bar1068]

Curious as to how long it took to disembark? What were the problems? Any pointers or advice?

 

Seems the problems going through customs. The "story" we got was that they were doing "extra checking" for some non-US pax, but who knows..but customs definitely was the bottleneck. We walked off the ship about 8:30am and did not get through customs until around 10am. I read on other posts some some who debarked earlier, got through quicker. Oh...need to add we were delayed getting off in NOLA from the TA, not the inaugural cruise.

Edited November 27, 2013 by bar1068

[Froufie]

Curious as to how long it took to disembark? What were the problems? Any pointers or advice?

 

Well coming off the transatlantic I am hoping there were some additional things going on? (I know the crew was all cleared beforehand as we had actually docked in NOLA on saturday night approx 11 pm - in fact when I peeked out into my hallway at 6 am - my luggage and several other suitcases had not yet been picked up despite being out there since midnight the night before:eek:)

 

We left the ship approx 9:15 am - but we already heard the announcements about the backlog in customs - so it was slow actually going down those gangways and into the terminal building - that took forever.... then finally in - more waiting - move a couple of feet more waiting - then an escalator down into the terminal

 

And we got several 'tours' of the terminal building - you start off in a long hallway - at the end - there is another hallway - then you turn and go back - sort of like tracing the outside of a rectangle - but several times - you are dragging your carryons/totes at this point...then you finally get to where the luggage and numbers are - get your suitcase - and guess what? Back down all those hallways again - around the whole perimeter of the building til you get to the customs area - this time dragging both your carryon and larger suitcase as well....

 

Customs area seemed pretty small and crowded. There was no designated line for non-U.S. citizens as there is at some ports - so everyone in varous lines - maybe 6 counters/lines? And no point in getting a porter - except for luggage assistance if you really need it....I know in Florida when you get a porter there is sometimes a 'special' line that you can access and it moves quicker but not here....

 

Once thru Customs it is a quick walk to shuttles/taxis etc.....we were out of the terminal building around 11 am and off to the airport......almost 2 hrs in total.:confused:

 

I think it may just be the 'design' of the building in NOLA and/or the process of getting luggage and to Customs that is the problem - definitely room for improvement!!:rolleyes: