Carnival Sunshine Review 6-19 through 6-27

[homeschoolmom3]

For months before our cruise I read the boards and gained a lot of information. Hopefully this review will do the same for others.

 

We loved our Sunshine 8 night cruise. When I first pulled up the Sunshine itineraries I thought the ports of Aruba and Curacao sounded great but then we looked at the dates. That cruise left on June 27 and our 25th wedding anniversary was June 23 so we chose the 8 day that went to Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Leaving on the 19th of June put us in St. Kitts on our anniversary and that sounded exciting.

 

A little about ourselves, my name is Kathy, I am married 25 years now to my husband Jon. We have three children, 2 in college and one in high school. While we have cruised with the kids before, our 25th anniversary cruise was just the two of us. We live in central Florida so we like being able to sail out only one hour away from home.

 

If you are reading this for a Carnival bashing review you will want to find another post. While I was informed of the positives and negatives about the Sunshine, I also take the opinion of others for what they were, their opinion. I enjoy cruising and go into a cruise knowing that some things won't be perfect but most of it will be great!

 

Day 1 Port Canaveral

 

It had been a few years since our last cruise so I had never heard of FTTF until I read the Cruise Critic boards. I watched daily for months and was able to purchase FFTF about 3 weeks before we cruised. With this in hand I knew to ignore the Carnival e-mail that said "Please only come and board at 2 PM for your 4 o'clock sail away". Who would do that? We left the house at 9:30 in the morning. Our son Matthew dropped us off at the pier just after 10:30. We immediately handed our two bags to the porter and walked to security. They scanned our passports and pointed us to the priority section. There was NO one in line ahead of us. We walked up and got our Sail and Sign cards and were directed to the main seating along the wall. There were about 40 people sitting in our area ahead of us. The Platinum and Diamond people were sitting in their lounge closer to where we had checked in. We settled in and before 11 in the morning they started calling off for wedding party members to start boarding. After the other priority people were called we were called. It seemed like a long hike to get to the ship but it was so worth the wait.

 

We found an elevator and figured out that there were only 2 that would ever go to our floor. We had chosen room 12012 Spa balcony. The dropping your bags off and unpacking before lunch was a wonderful perk. The room was a traditional sized room but the balcony was spectacular. There was a lounger and two chairs and it was covered! We had a spa cabin on the Dream and it was not covered. I learned that lesson. Off to lunch at Guy's Burgers to see what all the talk was about. It was good but there were many places to eat while on board.

 

We went to the spa tour and watched the sail away from the balcony. We explored the ship which is pretty easy to figure out as there are maps beside the elevators. Our dinner dining time was 6:00 in the Sunset Forward Dining Room. I had e-mailed the Maitre d' before the cruise to ask if a window seat for 2 would be available. He offered a secluded table by the window or a table for two looking down on the other floor of the Sunrise Dining. We went for secluded. It ended up being a table for four that was right by the window and we loved it. It was just for us. Danny and Hari were superb dining staff. They knew our names after the first night. We enjoyed dinner, went to the main evening show then crashed. When I get a computer literate child home I will try and add some photos.

[Freckles_51]

Good start, thanks for taking the time to do a review, looking forward to our cruise on the Sunshine in September on the same itinerary. :D

[Buck64]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We leave on the same itinerary July 10. I like your attitude of going in with a positive attitude and that others opinions of their cruise is just their opinion. Congrats on your 25 year anniversary!!

[eponym]

Day 1 Port Canaveral

 

We went to the spa tour and watched the sail away from the balcony. We explored the ship which is pretty easy to figure out as there are maps beside the elevators.

 

Appreciate your review. Please let us know how muster drill went on Sunshine. I didn't see you mention it.

 

Thanks!

[summersigh]

Keep it coming :D:D We're enjoying your insights. We sail her this winter

[homeschoolmom3]

Muster drill was easy for us. We were in the main Liquid Lounge area in the air-conditioning. That was a perk for having a forward cabin. Everyone else is outside. They did get excused before us, but we were sitting down inside!

[JackieH]

I'm enjoying your review . We will be on the Sunshine at the end of August to :-)

[homeschoolmom3]

Day 2- Day at Sea

 

Saturday June 20th we had a pretty low level day. We slept in and then went to the Sea Day Brunch in the Sunrise Dining. The omelettes were tasty and it was fun seeing a different dining room. We did have to figure out how to avoid going through the smoke pit in the casino. Deck 6 or 2 can take you forward until you hit the elevator or stairs to go to Sunrise.

 

We did order before the cruise 24 bottles of water to be delivered to our room for the Carnival price of only 2.99 for 12. They arrived in the morning. The new no bottle rule had not taken place yet so Jon did carry on some Sprite and I brought on green tea. We were glad for the refrigerator Next cruise it will be cans unless the rules change again!

 

After brunch, Jon had never been to an Art auction and so he took off for that. I think he got a little bored. I went to the Fun Finds Shopping Show. They went on and on about buying this coupon book for only $25.00. Free gold diamond jewelry, coupons for every port and even a $20.00 coupon for the Spa. You were encouraged to buy many. I like coupons so we bought one book. I will not do that again. First off the coupons expire in December. Next, all of the carnival ports are in the book so you have coupons for places you will not get to unless you have back to back cruises booked for the rest of the year on many different ships. If you do have that itinerary, then you really do not need the coupon book as you can afford paying regular price! The $20.00 off at the spa is only for regular price spa options. Everyday there is a sale at the spa so it just was not worth it to us. I have a lovely Carnival paper weight that does have a picture of the Sunshine on it!

 

Late lunch in Lido Market Place. I liked the many choices and even though it was a sea day the crowds were not bad. I ate in the Havana area. There are always open tables. Spent the afternoon in the Spa. I love that the heated seats all faced the ocean. Very peaceful.

 

It was formal night for dinner. I enjoyed the lobster and Jon had the ribs which he said were tasty. Table service was excellent. One thing I missed from the last cruise was the interactive TV that let you know what your dinner choices were. They do post the menu outside the dining area and I had printed off the 8 day menu before I left. They did switch menus for two of our days but that was OK. Anytime I do not have to make the food or clean up is a wonderful meal!

 

We watched the stars from our balcony and looked forward to our first port of Grand Turk the next morning on Father's Day.

[JackieH]

Any photos to share ? :-)

[debonaire1998]

Thanks for the review! Any chance you can send the menus or post them? My email is debonaire1998@yahoo.com

 

We'll see you on board Buck!

[homeschoolmom3]

Here is a link to zydecocruiser dot net though they may not let me post a website. http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalMiracleAK2014/mdr_dinner.html

[xeroxme]

Appreciate your review. Please let us know how muster drill went on Sunshine. I didn't see you mention it.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

On the sunshine now and the only negative is probably how crowded the muster drill was on the 27th and the ship was delayed in leaving from the previous week delay. No biggie. Overall Sunshine is great!!

[Single_dreamer]

On the sunshine now and the only negative is probably how crowded the muster drill was on the 27th and the ship was delayed in leaving from the previous week delay. No biggie. Overall Sunshine is great!!

 

Glad to hear this! I'm sailing on her in November. Please take photos of the mdr menus. Also interested in more info on Deck 5 rooms. Ty.

[bingo3]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. I too like to look at reviews as they help me plan and I do not focus on the imperfect things either. Nothing anywhere is perfect! Thanks for the coupon book tip, that would be useless to me too. :)

debbie

[Jeafl]

Nice start, can't wait to read the rest!

[homeschoolmom3]

Sunshine as seen from the conch shell graveyard. Grand Turk.

 

Day 3 Grand Turk- I will try and post more pictures but the kids are not happy with putting my high def pictures into the required numbers for cruise critic. (And they spent the day at Busch Gardens so they are cranky tired)

 

June 21 Father's Day. We arrived around 8 am or so in Grand Turk. It is beautiful. The color of the ocean is breathtaking. After reading Cruise Critic we had decided not to take a Carnival tour but rented a golf cart from Karibu Rental. We had already paid a deposit. You have to walk out of the cruise area to find the golf carts but there is a path to follow. It had rained that morning and seemed to be a big deal on the island. They said they had had a drought. Needless to say our map and all paperwork were ruined from the brief storm. He said we couldn't get lost on an island that was only 7 miles long. He was a little wrong.

 

We started out towards the lighthouse and ended up too far to the left and had to back track. Driving on the wrong side of the road was interesting but there is not much traffic and when people were behind you they just beeped to go around. I pet one of the wild donkeys and we took pictures of them. Then we came back into town and went to the museum. It was only 5 dollars a person and we had a tour guide with us for the start to explain things before we explored on our own. The best part is that it is air-conditioned as we were hot. I bought some salts while we were there. The view from the top balcony is exquisite.

 

 

Then I was bound and determined to find the conch graveyard. We took the golf cart over dirt roads and found the beach that has the shells right where you are walking. I picked out two shells and put them into the plastic gallon size bags that I had brought. Then we decided that we were done and hungry so we dropped off the cart and went up to eat at the BlueIguana Cantina. The Shrimp burrito was excellent and Jon enjoyed his tacos.

 

We hit the spa and then had dinner at JiJi's for Father's Day. What an incredible experience. You are supposed to pick 2 things from the appetizer-soup section. Jon wanted a third item and after a consultation with the chef we were allowed to order three things. We chose the pork belly, shrimp bonnet and the Tamarind soup. It was all very good. For the main course we went with Peppered beef and Fragrant Sweet and Sour Shrimp. If you like tea they have a wonderful green tea. My favorite part of the meal was dessert, the Rose Creme Brulee was the best I have ever had. Jon got the Caramelized crepes and they were OK but the Creme Brulee was better!! The meals and appetizers are served family style so you can share. That was fine with us.

 

Jon went to watch the Latin Nights main show and I crashed. It was a good Father's Day at sea.

Edited July 4, 2015 by homeschoolmom3

[arubagirl07]

Here is a link to zydecocruiser dot net though they may not let me post a website. http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalMiracleAK2014/mdr_dinner.html

 

Did you print your menus from this link? We are also celebrating our 25th on the Sunshine and we are very excited. Although there are some negative reviews, we are looking forward to our trip and plan to have a great trip. Thanks for the review.:)

[cruiserNC]

Enjoying your review looking forward to more

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[eponym]

On the sunshine now and the only negative is probably how crowded the muster drill was on the 27th and the ship was delayed in leaving from the previous week delay. No biggie. Overall Sunshine is great!!

 

The muster we had in May/June on Sunshine was outside and very long. I felt bad for the mothers holding young children for almost 45 minutes in the scorching heat.

 

We thought Sunshine was great too.

 

Lot's of options. Just stay ahead of the crowds!

 

Have a great cruise. Looking forward to hearing about it.

[eponym]

[ATTACH]354591[/ATTACH]

Sunshine as seen from the conch shell graveyard. Grand Turk.

 

Day 3 Grand Turk- I will try and post more pictures but the kids are not happy with putting my high def pictures into the required numbers for cruise critic. (And they spent the day at Busch Gardens so they are cranky tired)

 

June 21 Father's Day. We arrived around 8 am or so in Grand Turk. It is beautiful. The color of the ocean is breathtaking. After reading Cruise Critic we had decided not to take a Carnival tour but rented a golf cart from Karibu Rental. We had already paid a deposit. You have to walk out of the cruise area to find the golf carts but there is a path to follow. It had rained that morning and seemed to be a big deal on the island. They said they had had a drought. Needless to say our map and all paperwork were ruined from the brief storm. He said we couldn't get lost on an island that was only 7 miles long. He was a little wrong.

 

We started out towards the lighthouse and ended up too far to the left and had to back track. Driving on the wrong side of the road was interesting but there is not much traffic and when people were behind you they just beeped to go around. I pet one of the wild donkeys and we took pictures of them. Then we came back into town and went to the museum. It was only 5 dollars a person and we had a tour guide with us for the start to explain things before we explored on our own. The best part is that it is air-conditioned as we were hot. I bought some salts while we were there. The view from the top balcony is exquisite.

 

 

Then I was bound and determined to find the conch graveyard. We took the golf cart over dirt roads and found the beach that has the shells right where you are walking. I picked out two shells and put them into the plastic gallon size bags that I had brought. Then we decided that we were done and hungry so we dropped off the cart and went up to eat at the BlueIguana Cantina. The Shrimp burrito was excellent and Jon enjoyed his tacos.

 

We hit the spa and then had dinner at JiJi's for Father's Day. What an incredible experience. You are supposed to pick 2 things from the appetizer-soup section. Jon wanted a third item and after a consultation with the chef we were allowed to order three things. We chose the pork belly, shrimp bonnet and the Tamarind soup. It was all very good. For the main course we went with Peppered beef and Fragrant Sweet and Sour Shrimp. If you like tea they have a wonderful green tea. My favorite part of the meal was dessert, the Rose Creme Brulee was the best I have ever had. Jon got the Caramelized crepes and they were OK but the Creme Brulee was better!! The meals and appetizers are served family style so you can share. That was fine with us.

 

Jon went to watch the Latin Nights main show and I crashed. It was a good Father's Day at sea.

 

Ji Ji's for dinner. Oh yes, it was fabulous. Same thing for us too. Requested 3 appetizers, they consulted and no problem.

 

Great dining experience, and the duck and Pork belly was unbelievably prepared.

 

Keep writing, you are putting us back on her with all the good eats!

[alb1956]

Nice!!!

[MissTheatre]

Thanks so much for the great review so far! Sailing on the Sunshine on the 18th! So excited! :D

[homeschoolmom3]

Day 4 Puerto Rico, San Juan

 

I have spent several days trying to post pictures but until our computer child gets home tat is not happening!

 

Puerto Rico was a late port, we arrived around 1 in the afternoon but it took awhile for us to be cleared to leave. The ship announcements kept calling people to go here or there. I guess it was for customs. We had a slow morning though I did go to a free Yoga class which was very nice. Very humorous to be balancing on one leg and then have the ship tilt to one side. We were told we were not concentrating hard enough if we lost our balance. Sure.

 

We made a mistake when trying to leave the ship. The day before we got into the elevator (12th floor) and it went all the way down to zero and we got right off. Today we followed the crowd that got off on level 1. Don't do that. On level one you are herded around the elevators over to the stairs where they are yelling excursions to one side everyone else to the other. Then you are crammed into the stair well and into the crowd. Trust me, the elevator down to zero is much better. This was a must have photo id port so many people were going back up to their rooms to get their ID.

 

We had used some Marriott points to book this cruise and Marriott had offered a tour through them. It was 39.95 to go on a tour of old and new San Juan. Since we had never been before and Jon did not want to hike in the rain forest we chose that tour. It guaranteed that we would make it back to the ship on time or they would pay to get us to the next stop. The tour was not until 3:30 so we decided to go shopping. We decided to use some of our coupons from the great coupon book and may have saved about 5.00. Most of the other things in the book any one on the cruise could have gotten that deal. Then we went behind the Sheraton Old San Juan where they have the Plaza Arturo Somohano. This is where people are selling things that are not made in China! We bought some soap and several other unique items.

 

At this point the weather was changing, it looked like a big storm was coming so though we were early we decided to head towards the hotel which is where our tour meeting place was to be taking place. Before we got to the hotel we saw a Starbucks. I enjoy Starbucks so we went and got some drinks and watched the people running in the storm. About 3:15 we went to find our tour and found out we were the only people on the tour. This was rather nice. We explored the new San Juan then headed back toward Old San Juan. We would have toured the fort but it was still drizzling out and honestly it looked just like the fort in St. Augustine Florida. Maybe if it wasn't raining. We did go into the Capital Building and took some gorgeous pictures of the mosaics and then stopped at the Cathedral of San Juan. All the while we were getting a grand tour and could ask any questions. At the end of the tour we were dropped off right at the Port and so we went back onboard.

 

Dinner that night was back in the Sunset. Danny and Hari sang very loudly to us for our anniversary and gave us another dessert. They knew we would be in the 555 Steakhouse on our anniversary. They are very thoughtful. We went to the magic show that night and it was entertaining. We never had a problem finding a seat in the balcony for any show. San Juan is pretty during the day but really nice to see at night from your balcony!

[Arzeena]

Enjoying your review!

We have a spa inside booked for next August. Did you get to peek inside one of those?

[CammieO]

Thank you for your review! I am sailing in October with my mom and my sister and we have booked a spa room as well (my mom doesn't know yet. It's going to be a surprise.) I'm am very excited about the thermal suite. This is a silly question, but what did people wear in the sauna/the rest of the thermal suite area? Thank you again and congratulations on your anniversary!