Just Off Sunshine Review 9/5 - 9/13

[Supercrossfox21]

Here is my review of the sunshine. Not the greatest, but I'm doing it as we r flying home. I was pretty indifferent about the ship. Would cruise it again if it had cheap sailing and going to the ports I wanted. That being said if there was another ship that offered the same thing, I would probably choose the other ship.

A few days before leaving we were able to upgrade from an inside cabin mid ship to a balcony aft deck 7 for cheaper and got the difference back on our cc. Very excited bc we had never had a balcony (always happy with an inside), but nervous bc it was aft. Turned out we loved being aft deck 7. We were also able to secure a FTTF.

We arrived at orlando airport abt 7am after taking a red eye from los angeles. Got some breakfast and then went down to wait for the carnival transportation. We were the 1st ones on the first bus going out at about 10am.

[Supercrossfox21]

Now note to FTTF holders: when you board the bus you hand over your luggage and do not see it until it arrives in your cabin. Thanks to this board I knew as a FTTF I was supposed to get a orange colored luggage tag but still hadnt received one, so I told them I need access to my bags when we got to the port so I could get this "special" tag. Make a long story short after going round and round someone went and found the tag I was talking about and put it on our luggage. So if you are using carnival transportation make sure to tell them you are a FTTF and need a tag, they have them somewhere. So after getting this sorted out (and no we did not hold up the bus) we were off.

 

We got to the port a little after 11:15, went straight to the area marked FTTF, through security in less than 5 minutes. Then led to the check in area.

[Supercrossfox21]

Not a person in line; in fact there were about 5 or so carnival people just waiting for someone to walk up and help them. Took our picture and just as she handed us our cards, they announced boarding for us. We walked on, headed to guest service to reserve our spot for Dr. Suess Breakfast and up to our room to drop off our stuff and then to the pool all before noon. Definitely worth the $50!

 

We had the pool to ourselves for about 30 minutes and then a few others joined us, but never was really crowded till day 7 (2nd sea day of 3). Then I headed to to mongolian wok as I knew it would it more crowded as the cruise went on (and it did). Husband and daughter went to Guys. Then more swimming, muster drill and setting sail. We hung out in our room for a little bit and then went to the family friendly comedy show.

[Supercrossfox21]

Yes you need to get there 30 min early, just like everyone says. This was one thing I did not care for, having to get there 30 min early when I could be doing something else. For those of you with kids I'm sure you understand the issue of having to entertain them while you wait for the actual show to start.

 

After the show we had late seating for dinner so went directly there. That night we had thunder, lightening, and rain. It was was very cool watching it as we ate dinner. Our dinning room servers were really good and greeted us by name the very 1st night and there after. It was a nice touch. Then off to bed.

 

Next day was a sea day, we slept in, went to brunch and hung out at the pool. We didnt think brunch was all that great. We found the quality of food has gone down since we began sailing

[Supercrossfox21]

That night did another comedy show, got there abt 15 minutes before it was to start and lets just say not a good idea. Then dinner and bed. Unfortunately we either had to choose family comedy or showtime, so this was our last comedy show.

 

Next 4 days were port days.

Grand Turks- stayed on the beach until it started raining and getting super windy. Then went shopping until the line to get on got shorter.

 

San Juan- rained for about the first 2 hours and then was nice. We just walked around. Power went off on ship thankfully still in port abt9:30pm

 

St. Thomas- did a carnival excursion to the island of St. Johns to Trunk Bay for snorkeling. This was a gorgeous beach. Definitely recommend. Then did some shopping back at St.Thomas

[Supercrossfox21]

St. Maartens- we arranged before we left to hire a taxi for the day. He was great and provided snacks and drinks. Would recommend him. We visited the butterfly farm (cool, but expensive and not sure it was worth what we paid). Then to mullet bay for about 2 hours. The water here is very clear and was warm. Then we headed to Maho to watch a plane land. Last we went to St. Maartens Zoo. This was a cute zoo, a liitle run down, but you can feed all the animals and the peacocks, chickens, and iguanas will follow you. You can do this zoo in about 30-45 minutes, maybe longer if you let the kids play. Its close to the port and a fun way to spend an hour. Just keep in mind its not a big fancy zoo. Then headed back to ship. In total we were gone 6.5 hours.

 

Showtimes- we saw 5 shows while on board and yes once again you had to

[Supercrossfox21]

get there 30 min early or earlier as people started lining up about 45 minutes early. Shows were ok. Now there is no orchestra and there are only 8 dancers/singers. Think they were better before they went to this new format. We saw motown, VIP, and epic rock, and then a juggler and the Hasbro game show (only stated bc 4 yr old daughter wanted to).

 

Our room steward was great. We always had fresh pool towels in the room and always greeted us by name. On the St. Maartens port day they decorated the pool area with a ton of towel animals (we did not know this as we left as soon as the shipped docked and never went up to the lido deck ) Our room steward asked my daughter if she had seen it (of course we hadn't). That night we came back to our room and he had made her 4 extra towel animals. It was so sweet.

[Supercrossfox21]

The second to last sea day, we finally got to go on the water slides. We also went to the pasta bar where you get to make your own pasta. It was really good. Ate there the last 2 sea days. Wish they had been open later.

 

Last sea day went to the Cat in the Hat breakfast ($5 a person). Ate Dr. Suess inspired food and took pictures with some characters. It was a lazy day as the weather was very overcast, even had rain, thunder and lightening that we got to watch from our balcony. And of course the dreadful packing. And they come right at 11pm to get your bags.

 

Disembarking- they started letting people carrying off there own luggage at 7:15 then called FTTF and zone 1-3. We were walking off the ship by 7:55am. Then bc we had a porter help us with our luggage we got to go in the

[Supercrossfox21]

Porter line for customs. Through that in about 5 minutes and into a taxi to take us to enterprise car rental to rent a car for the day. Went to Brevard Zoo for the day and dropped off and Orlando airport. I highly recommend spending the extra few dollars to tip a porter to get through the customs line faster.

 

Overall the ship was fine. Didnt like the small public areas, especially the main lobby. On all other cruise ships we've been on you walk into a grand open area. On the sunshine your smacked in the face with a huge bar in front of you and the excursion desk and guest service on either side. And having to get somewhere so early to enjoy entertainment is just stressful. Our room was nice and the food areas on lido are laid out better then it was on destiny. But the drink station always had a line, not sure what hold up was.

[Supercrossfox21]

Didnt do camp carnival or any of the nightlife. Didn't do the speciality restaurants, but we did walk by the steakhouse at a variety of times and it never seemed crowded. The times we were on deck 1 or 2 after getting back from port, some areas had a musty smell. Nothing on deck 7 port had a smell. Our room was comfortably cool, but did get warmer during the early morning for whatever reason. Could have cooler but nothing to complain about.

Cant think of much more to report. We enjoyed our vacation and looking forward to booking another carnival cruise. Any questions I'll try to answer. Sorry for jumping around so much, on plane and writing on phone, so I can just copy and paste when I have internet connection at home. Just writing what comes to me and trying to keep my mind off flying (one of my least favorite things to do- scares me)

[happymoes]

Thanks for the review!!

[erewhon]

Thanks for reviewing your cruise.

[getupgo]

Seems interesting that when I googled carnival ships (because this board is always referring to them be classification and I wanted to see which were which), the Sunshine is tagged New which it obviously isn't. Wonder why?

[Podna's]

Thanks for the review. We loved the Sunshine. I agree it's never fun waiting in line for comedy shows that early but that's on all ships. Anyway glad to see you enjoyed yourself.

[Derbie]

Not a person in line; in fact there were about 5 or so carnival people just waiting for someone to walk up and help them. Took our picture and just as she handed us our cards, they announced boarding for us. We walked on, headed to guest service to reserve our spot for Dr. Suess Breakfast and up to our room to drop off our stuff and then to the pool all before noon. Definitely worth the $50!

 

We had the pool to ourselves for about 30 minutes and then a few others joined us, but never was really crowded till day 7 (2nd sea day of 3). Then I headed to to mongolian wok as I knew it would it more crowded as the cruise went on (and it did). Husband and daughter went to Guys. Then more swimming, muster drill and setting sail. We hung out in our room for a little bit and then went to the family friendly comedy show.

 

What age group is the Dr. Suess geared towards? What is the cost? Thanks so much.

[Derbie]

Not a person in line; in fact there were about 5 or so carnival people just waiting for someone to walk up and help them. Took our picture and just as she handed us our cards, they announced boarding for us. We walked on, headed to guest service to reserve our spot for Dr. Suess Breakfast and up to our room to drop off our stuff and then to the pool all before noon. Definitely worth the $50!

 

We had the pool to ourselves for about 30 minutes and then a few others joined us, but never was really crowded till day 7 (2nd sea day of 3). Then I headed to to mongolian wok as I knew it would it more crowded as the cruise went on (and it did). Husband and daughter went to Guys. Then more swimming, muster drill and setting sail. We hung out in our room for a little bit and then went to the family friendly comedy show.

 

Is there a fee for the Mongolian Wok? Your review is very helpful! Thanks.

[minaq2]

Is there a fee for the Mongolian Wok? Your review is very helpful! Thanks.

 

Nope, it's free. Just really popular so long lines.

[marshabear]

thanks for the review and the way you broke it all up made for very easy reading! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marsha

[Supercrossfox21]

What age group is the Dr. Suess geared towards? What is the cost? Thanks so much.

 

its $5 a person and would say maybe ages 2 to 6/7

[gammie1964]

Here is my review of the sunshine. Not the greatest, but I'm doing it as we r flying home. I was pretty indifferent about the ship. Would cruise it again if it had cheap sailing and going to the ports I wanted. That being said if there was another ship that offered the same thing, I would probably choose the other ship.

A few days before leaving we were able to upgrade from an inside cabin mid ship to a balcony aft deck 7 for cheaper and got the difference back on our cc. Very excited bc we had never had a balcony (always happy with an inside), but nervous bc it was aft. Turned out we loved being aft deck 7. We were also able to secure a FTTF.

We arrived at orlando airport abt 7am after taking a red eye from los angeles. Got some breakfast and then went down to wait for the carnival transportation. We were the 1st ones on the first bus going out at about 10am.

 

 

We leave this Saturday and are in Aft 7330 - excited because it's our first AFT location - which cabin were you on and please, if you have time, elaborate a bit on the cabin! Oh, and what was your stewards name? - thanks for the review!

[Supercrossfox21]

We leave this Saturday and are in Aft 7330 - excited because it's our first AFT location - which cabin were you on and please, if you have time, elaborate a bit on the cabin! Oh, and what was your stewards name? - thanks for the review!

 

We were in 7296. Cant remember his name off the top of my head. Its in my journal, but that was his last week. He was going home for 2 months and then going on the freedom. Nothing special as far as room. Same size as the insides. Very cramped if there is more than 2 bc the sofa is in a L shape when made into a bed and it was kept that way the whole time. Not sure if thats the shape of the couch or just when its a bed. But very tiny floor space and no room to walk. We couldn't even get our suitcases to go under bed bc of the sofa bed. Wasnt a big deal to us bc when the room we were resting and just took clothes out and put in all the cupboards and drawers (I thought it had a lot of storage) and then suitcases in closet.

[4Tacos]

Thanks for the review. We are doing this same itinerary in February. Can you tell me which nights were formal nights?

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[Supercrossfox21]

Thanks for the review. We are doing this same itinerary in February. Can you tell me which nights were formal nights?

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

 

1st and 2nd sea day. So right before grand turks and after st. Maartens. We noticed the 2nd formal night only a small number actually did the whole formal thing.