Sunshine - quick review

[carmel]

I'm so swamped at work after missing a week - I hope to be able to write a more in depth review before the Sunshine is retired, LOL.

 

In a word - beautiful. She exceeded my expectations. The only smells I could smell were scrumptious food. No bucket except for my daughter's sand buckets.

 

Decor was gorgeous. Very Caribbean-y. Crew and staff were just amazing. So friendly, so eager, so accommodating.

 

Quick thoughts

My only small (didn't damper my fun in the slightest) disappointments were:

 

*Lido deck around the pool really is quite small. It felt claustrophobic with the all the chairs and all the bars and a giant, loud screen blaring. The pool is tiny also. I love the pool area on ships and this one is not where I spent a lot of time.

*I know this sounds crazy but I had a hard time finding anything to eat later at night. About all there was to choose from was pizza. The buffet seemed to close earlier than any other ship I've been on.

 

The highlights that really stood out that made this cruise amazing were:

Waterworks, sports deck - so much fun! So nice to come back to the ship early on shore days and go up there. The island mountains in the background and not many people up there. Really, really fun place to be.

 

JiJi and Cupa at lunch - YUM!!! Fabulous options at lunch. I wish I didn't get full so fast so I could have enjoyed them >1 time per day.

 

Crew/staff - so polite and so friendly. Just a pleasure to be around. Plus, the maitre d' is incredibly sexy (did I say that out loud? LOL)

 

Cabin and hallway (and in general the whole ship) decor was gorgeous. Light and airy feeling hallways - loved the colors.....yeah, toilet was close to the shower but a bonus was when I shaved my legs! Just sat down and bent over!

 

The beef!!! OMG - the beef was as good as any steakhouse I've been to. I could cut most of it with a butter knife! And this was in the main dining room!

 

I've sailed a lot. Our last voyage was a Carnival voyage (Pride out of Baltimore). We had a combo of things go wrong....crappy weather, missed port, staff seemed bored.....and we vowed 'never again'. But, Carnival had the dates I needed this time and we hesitantly gave them another try. SO GLAD I did.

 

It was the perfect mixture of fun and elegant - if that makes sense. I've sailed on RCCL, NCL and Princess and I really saw no difference between the Sunshine and them. I know people like to call Carnival a budget line but honestly, with this cruise, it equaled my best RCCL.

 

Just loved it. If you are booked, go and have a great time and don't worry. I just had a blast!!!

Edited April 29, 2014 by carmel

[sjcruiser]

Thanks for the review!!!

[4wheelr]

Love the concise review...leaving in less than 60 days!! Can't wait to see how different it is from the Destiny.

[hartsnvt]

Thanks for your Sunshine report! We are on her in August and cannot wait!

[sunkey1]

Thanks so much for all the great comments, making me even MORE ready (as if that's possible) for my cruise!!

[tinyrose]

Thanks for the review. Glad you had a good trip.

 

I'm looking forward to our Sunshine trip in November and love hearing positive reports about her.

[cruizinisthebest]

Thanks for the review! So excited to see her for myself soon!

[glassman352]

Love the concise review...leaving in less than 60 days!! Can't wait to see how different it is from the Destiny.

 

I'm with you 4wheeler, great concise review! Anytime I read a good review of the Sunshine I anticipate my cruise (less than 60 days also) even more. Anytime I read a bad review, I think……..wow Karma must have slapped them in the face. Let the CHEERS begin on July 28th!!!:D

[carmel]

I did want to say one other thing. There were some bottlenecks in terms of traffic flow. But you know what? I found that if you are stuck in a bottle neck, just look up and smile at a person. Say something nice like, 'love your shirt' or 'if I keep eating like this, no one will get through this tight spot'. It REALLY makes a difference. We are all there to have fun - to escape whatever real life throws at us every day. I have found that given the chance, it is a lot easier to smile and joke than to grumble about the bad stuff. I had such wonderful chit chats with people while waiting for an elevator or waiting in line. I'm not a Pollyanna by any means - I work HARD not to be grumpy (see some of my last posts) but I was hell bent on sucking every bit of happiness I could out of those 8 days. And you know what? It made such a difference. Smiling is like the most contagious case of Noro anywhere. You start one and it spreads like wildfire. And what a nice thing to spread amongst your fellow vacationers, eh?

[sunrise2]

I did want to say one other thing. There were some bottlenecks in terms of traffic flow. But you know what? I found that if you are stuck in a bottle neck, just look up and smile at a person. Say something nice like, 'love your shirt' or 'if I keep eating like this, no one will get through this tight spot'. It REALLY makes a difference. We are all there to have fun - to escape whatever real life throws at us every day. I have found that given the chance, it is a lot easier to smile and joke than to grumble about the bad stuff. I had such wonderful chit chats with people while waiting for an elevator or waiting in line. I'm not a Pollyanna by any means - I work HARD not to be grumpy (see some of my last posts) but I was hell bent on sucking every bit of happiness I could out of those 8 days. And you know what? It made such a difference. Smiling is like the most contagious case of Noro anywhere. You start one and it spreads like wildfire. And what a nice thing to spread amongst your fellow vacationers, eh?

 

I agree. My husband and I were on this Easter cruise and what we did was adapt to the ship. As you said there were bottle necks and what we did was avoid times and places when this would happen, or if we were stuck in it worked with it and meet some great people. We made every second of our cruise count and we enjoyed ourselves. No problems with service nor our cabin. Crew was friendly and always had a smile. We are both retired and cruise often so one day we did not get off the ship and just spent time enjoying the pool. Since we cruise often out of PC we did enjoy the space on the Dream over the Sunshine (our opinion only). Although Guys on the Sunshine was fantastic. We have booked the Liberty for 2015 since it will be in PC and we are less than 2 hours away from port.

[sunkey1]

I did want to say one other thing. There were some bottlenecks in terms of traffic flow. But you know what? I found that if you are stuck in a bottle neck, just look up and smile at a person. Say something nice like, 'love your shirt' or 'if I keep eating like this, no one will get through this tight spot'. It REALLY makes a difference. We are all there to have fun - to escape whatever real life throws at us every day. I have found that given the chance, it is a lot easier to smile and joke than to grumble about the bad stuff. I had such wonderful chit chats with people while waiting for an elevator or waiting in line. I'm not a Pollyanna by any means - I work HARD not to be grumpy (see some of my last posts) but I was hell bent on sucking every bit of happiness I could out of those 8 days. And you know what? It made such a difference. Smiling is like the most contagious case of Noro anywhere. You start one and it spreads like wildfire. And what a nice thing to spread amongst your fellow vacationers, eh?

 

All I can say is that the world needs more people like you!!! I am so happy to be on a ship that it takes a LOT to get me down. Life is too short to be nit picking at every little thing. So relax, kick back and simply appreciate the fact that you are on a cruise and not at work or home mowing the grass.....

[geekohio]

Loved reading your review!! I've read a few negative and it makes me feel better about going on Sunshine when I read the positive ones. :)

[travelerblue]

I also thank you for posting the review. We are loyal NCL cruisers but our friends talked us into the Sunshine. We are a little apprehensive (well, my DH especially) but I can't imagine how we won't have a great time other than missing some of the perks we have acquired with our platinum status on NCL. I am looking forward to trying something new. Love reading the positive reviews. You didn't by any chance go to the spa did you? We have booked a spa interior on deck 11. Looking forward the Serenity area.

[jenniferop]

Thanks for the positive review! Hubby and I are cruising Sunshine 8/31 AND 11/29 (different Itinerary) we can't wait... First time for Spa cabins and I'm so excited!

 

 

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[<3_2_Cruise]

Thanks for the review! I am hoping to book the Sunshine in 2015, during spring break.

[Barbiegator]

I'm so swamped at work after missing a week - I hope to be able to write a more in depth review before the Sunshine is retired, LOL.

 

In a word - beautiful. She exceeded my expectations. The only smells I could smell were scrumptious food. No bucket except for my daughter's sand buckets.

 

Decor was gorgeous. Very Caribbean-y. Crew and staff were just amazing. So friendly, so eager, so accommodating.

 

Quick thoughts

My only small (didn't damper my fun in the slightest) disappointments were:

 

*Lido deck around the pool really is quite small. It felt claustrophobic with the all the chairs and all the bars and a giant, loud screen blaring. The pool is tiny also. I love the pool area on ships and this one is not where I spent a lot of time.

*I know this sounds crazy but I had a hard time finding anything to eat later at night. About all there was to choose from was pizza. The buffet seemed to close earlier than any other ship I've been on.

 

The highlights that really stood out that made this cruise amazing were:

Waterworks, sports deck - so much fun! So nice to come back to the ship early on shore days and go up there. The island mountains in the background and not many people up there. Really, really fun place to be.

 

JiJi and Cupa at lunch - YUM!!! Fabulous options at lunch. I wish I didn't get full so fast so I could have enjoyed them >1 time per day.

 

Crew/staff - so polite and so friendly. Just a pleasure to be around. Plus, the maitre d' is incredibly sexy (did I say that out loud? LOL)

 

Cabin and hallway (and in general the whole ship) decor was gorgeous. Light and airy feeling hallways - loved the colors.....yeah, toilet was close to the shower but a bonus was when I shaved my legs! Just sat down and bent over!

 

The beef!!! OMG - the beef was as good as any steakhouse I've been to. I could cut most of it with a butter knife! And this was in the main dining room!

 

I've sailed a lot. Our last voyage was a Carnival voyage (Pride out of Baltimore). We had a combo of things go wrong....crappy weather, missed port, staff seemed bored.....and we vowed 'never again'. But, Carnival had the dates I needed this time and we hesitantly gave them another try. SO GLAD I did.

 

It was the perfect mixture of fun and elegant - if that makes sense. I've sailed on RCCL, NCL and Princess and I really saw no difference between the Sunshine and them. I know people like to call Carnival a budget line but honestly, with this cruise, it equaled my best RCCL.

 

Just loved it. If you are booked, go and have a great time and don't worry. I just had a blast!!!

 

I agree with your review. We loved our Sunshine cruise. I put a member review on cruise critic.

[BSQ]

Agree! Other than when the Liberty first received 2.0, Sunshine was the first ship I found myself wanting to sail on again.

 

I also thank you for posting the review. We are loyal NCL cruisers but our friends talked us into the Sunshine. We are a little apprehensive (well, my DH especially) but I can't imagine how we won't have a great time other than missing some of the perks we have acquired with our platinum status on NCL. I am looking forward to trying something new. Love reading the positive reviews. You didn't by any chance go to the spa did you? We have booked a spa interior on deck 11. Looking forward the Serenity area.

 

If the OP didn't there's a few Spa pics in my review linked in my signature.

[WoodyWindy]

Thank you for that great concise review! My wife and I did our honeymoon in her before the transformation from Destiny to Sunshine. I'm glad to hear that she is still a great place to be. :)

[howric51]

Thanks for the great review,

Can not wait for my first time on the sunshine, 8/31.

[KARTI1955]

Thanks! Glad to hear such good things I will be there on August 31 too!

How was the Serenity Deck?

[bfootgirl10]

Just got off yesterday and reiterate what the OP said. However, the Serenity decks are unfortunately not very serene. The lido deck music is unbearably loud at all times and serenity overlooks that area. Quite literally, we had to shout at one another while next to each other. To escape the music I had to go to deck 14 (13) and attempt to snag a lounger, clamshell or hammock. Deck 12 has its own bar, which was very nice.

[Familycruisers20]

Totally agree! Was on 2 wks ago (July 4th) and we loved it. Sure it was a bit crowded, Jamie the CD said we were sailing full at 3600...but it was very manageable we thought (group of 12). We were on Deck 1 and it was great, would not hesitate to book low again either.

 

The comedy club comedians were fantastic too!

 

We would go on it again, but not loving the itinerary change next summer so we will have to try the Liberty.

[Time2CruiseAgain]

Love your review and especially your attitude about the bottle necking!! Ya just have to go with the glow and share a smile!

 

We sail on the Sunshine in September!! Can't wait!!

 

 

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[Tutontow]

Totally agree! Was on 2 wks ago (July 4th) and we loved it. Sure it was a bit crowded, Jamie the CD said we were sailing full at 3600...but it was very manageable we thought (group of 12). We were on Deck 1 and it was great, would not hesitate to book low again either.

 

The comedy club comedians were fantastic too!

 

We would go on it again, but not loving the itinerary change next summer so we will have to try the Liberty.

 

Isn't Jamie amazing? I don't know how she stays so supercharged. I too loved the Sunshine and I really liked all of the different food options rather than just having a buffet on the Lido deck. For those of you who don't know if you want to eat the buffet food you can still go into the other venues such as the Havana or Cucina del Capitano and eat you buffet food there. Oh and don't miss the burritos and taco, did I mention Guys Burgers.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!