Sunshine (revisited) 02/13/16 Exotic Carib review

[mibarron]

I wish I could give you better info. I have never stayed next to an elevator so I can't really give you any good input. I have stayed near them but we always stay in a balcony. Sorry

 

 

That's ok. I appreciate all the info you share. This is a balcony cabin. It will be my first experience next to an elevator. I'm going to use this as a teaching moment and bring ear plugs just in case! HAHA!

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

We spent the morning at the main pool and the afternoon at the water park area. The weather was ok to start and got better quickly and stayed that way until the last day.

 

Mid afternoon we headed back to get ready for the first formal night. Seeing it was Valentines day there were some different photo stations (yeah, I did take some pictures in from of a red heart background.....:eek:

 

I have a tux and decided to bring it on this cruise. The red cumberbund and matching tie were quite the show... After dinner we changed, then headed for the main show. For those who don't know, the main showroom on this ship is a multi purpose room. Think of an existing showroom mins the lower level (in this case they turned it into rooms. Because of this the bottom area is flat and they have chairs they place in there that can be removed (not exactly folding chairs, yeah I know it is all a little weird).

 

The show was a mo town review. This ship has playlist productions which means it is a little different (some would argue a lot, but that is a different topic). The other thing is the music is not live. It sounds fine, but no live band (like they have in Ocean's plaza). The show was pretty good (OK, I have seen it a time or two before) but the talent was good. The other thing different from some other ships is the entertainment comes out into the flat area of the floor and gets the crowd into the show, I kind of liked that.

[jimbo5544]

That's ok. I appreciate all the info you share. This is a balcony cabin. It will be my first experience next to an elevator. I'm going to use this as a teaching moment and bring ear plugs just in case! HAHA!

 

 

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I should have looked before I wrote.... I have stayed in similar cabins like that. I have not heard any elevator noise and no more hall noise than any other regular balcony area. You may hear people in the hall, but I doubt you would hear the elevator. If you meant people in the hallway, yeah there might be some ambient additional noise level. Ear plugs are not a bad add on.

 

Since you brought it up, our cabin was forward, we specifically chose this because it was near our daughter and her family staying in CS. We typically don't like to be forward because you feel more of the ocean movement. The upside is that there were less people in the hallway.

Edited March 1, 2016 by jimbo5544

[mibarron]

Havana bar has lunch and breakfast? Thanks for the tip!! Sometimes the buffet is so crowded in some of the ships I've been on that I'm always looking for alternatives. Is it open everyday? Or just on sea days?

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Havana bar has lunch and breakfast? Thanks for the tip!! Sometimes the buffet is so crowded in some of the ships I've been on that I'm always looking for alternatives. Is it open everyday? Or just on sea days?

 

 

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Every day. It is also where the Mongolian wok is. Back there is where Cucina is (free at lunch and 15/person at dinner) and Jiji's (the wok for lunch and 15/ person at dinner.

[kindatravelsavy19]

We spent the morning at the main pool and the afternoon at the water park area. The weather was ok to start and got better quickly and stayed that way until the last day.

 

Man was that water cold or what! I thought it was like taking a polar plunge in both pool and water works area. I have never actually participated in polar club activities but would guess this would as close as I will ever get. I thought the water slides were pretty intense than what I was thinking they would be like:eek:.

[kindatravelsavy19]

Mid afternoon we headed back to get ready for the first formal night. Seeing it was Valentines day there were some different photo stations (yeah, I did take some pictures in from of a red heart background.....:eek:

 

I have a tux and decided to bring it on this cruise. The red cumberbund and matching tie were quite the show... After dinner we changed, then headed for the main show. For those who don't know, the main showroom on this ship is a multi purpose room. Think of an existing showroom mins the lower level (in this case they turned it into rooms. Because of this the bottom area is flat and they have chairs they place in there that can be removed (not exactly folding chairs, yeah I know it is all a little weird).

 

The show was a mo town review. This ship has playlist productions which means it is a little different (some would argue a lot, but that is a different topic). The other thing is the music is not live. It sounds fine, but no live band (like they have in Ocean's plaza). The show was pretty good (OK, I have seen it a time or two before) but the talent was good. The other thing different from some other ships is the entertainment comes out into the flat area of the floor and gets the crowd into the show, I kind of liked that.

 

This is the part of our trip that left a bad taste in our mouths as they say... After reading plenty of other reviews and knowing a bit of what to expect we tried to plan accordingly. As most of our group of 7 typically eat early our plan was to get to the YTD check-in desk as closed to 5:15 as possible. Well it seemed as though half or more of the other YTD guests had the same idea. Well one of the issues is that the line qickly reaches into the stinky casino on deck 5. Almost every night there was a wait just to get checked in before 5pm.

Well on Valentines night apparently there was a miss print in the fun times as to when dinner service began. Which created a big problem. Instead of 5:15 they posted it was 6pm. With reading that this night formal night gets lenghty we planned on getting in line to wait for check in at 5:30. This is where we found out our plan my not work or all these people are CC members as well. We waited 2hours just to get our paper ticket so we could go to the dinning room to be seated! Doing our best to keep the kids occupied with tablets and games as best we could. (We typically would shun at having games at the table ect. But knew tonight would be our best option.) During this wait we kept periodically checking with the check in hostesses making sure our pager was still working. They told us that many of the guests in the dinning room were done eating but not leaving when they were done... The service was running a little bit slower than other nights but I read to expect this. Well not getting food till after 8 was more than one of the twins could handle and fell asleep in his chair waiting for his dinner. Many of the following nights the kids opted to eat with camp c kids after this experience. I don't blame them. But we did not wish to dine at lido.

One more thing about dinner because of it being valentine's day they scrapped the dessert menu and was a preset strawberry mousse. Not really a fan of mousse. Not sure what regular dessert we missed... maybe the cherries jubilee...?

This then leads into the frustrating finale of the night. The Liquid Lounge and the Motown show. With sleepy kids and tense night we tried to make the last show at 9:30 cutting our waiters off trying to wish us happy anniversary we rushed to the lounge. Well let me tell you this. This venue may have worked with the set times dinning but not really the best for such a varied numbers of viewers YTD plus the set dinners creates.(IMO) As many have been witness to "Chogs" at the pool by day they morph into "Schogs" (show chair hogs) by night! They were saving rows of seats with less than 5 or 10 min show time! This was the final nail in coffin for the night and really set me off as I became slightly vocal as I corralled my family back out of the theater. Sadly the Motown show was one that my oldest really could have connected to being that he just the week prior he had a school project about Berry Gordy jr. The founder of motown records.:(

After that night it was lineup city all over the ship. Wait in line 30min for dinner check in. Then stand in line for the lime light lounge or liquid to get seats we stood many times 30 min for shows as well. But that in part was due to the other members of the group not wanting to miss a show after the formal failure night.

[kindatravelsavy19]

Havana bar has lunch and breakfast? Thanks for the tip!! Sometimes the buffet is so crowded in some of the ships I've been on that I'm always looking for alternatives. Is it open everyday? Or just on sea days?

 

 

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I liked what they had to offer at the Havana bar area at breakfast and lunch. But, just like the lido market area there is little to no change in the offerings sitting under heat lamps... Food tasted good the first time around but passed after a 2nd sampling.:rolleyes:

[kindatravelsavy19]

Jimbo sorry to kind of hijack your thread (not on purpose). But other than those issues we had I had a good time. I give the overall trip a 7 or 8 out of 10. Would like to go back to St. Kitts and see the city since we docked at the cargo pier. Didn't know but apparently they had free shuttles to Basseterre. We went to Carambola beach... let me not get ahead of you sorry.

[Virgincruiser510]

So, I'm new here in case you can't tell by my moniker. Jimbo, I'm enjoying your review. As a newbie and not having a clue as to some of the lingo and guessing at some, one I can't figure out is YTD. I know it has something to do with dining, duh, but not sure exactly what.

 

I'm scheduled to sail out of NYC on July 12, 2016. At 64 yrs of age, this is the first time ever for me on any kind of boat, much less a ship of this magnitude. Might as well start off grand, eh?

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your reviews, everyone, and seeing your pictures. I'll be traveling with a group of 17, the entire family inlaws and all. This will be extremely interesting since we've never all been in the same proximity for 8 days or even 2.

 

I'm very excited about this trip although having read the review by kindatravelsavy19, I got a little concerned about all the waiting in lines to get in here and there. I have bad arthritis and can't stand for more than 5 minutes without pain. Can't imagine standing in line for 30 minutes for anything. Please tell me that isn't the norm. And I'm getting the impression that being able to get a poolside chair is going to be a bad dream. Chair hogs? What does one do when there isn't an available chair in sight? Just forgo the pool altogether? I'm looking forward to some pool fun with the grands. I'm hoping this isn't as bad as it sounds. One of my daughters booked this trip. I will say I'm quite surprised there is only one small swimming pool and two hot tubs. How does that really work? I hope I don't sound like Debbiedowner here. I really am looking forward to my trip of a lifetime.[/size][/size]

[kindatravelsavy19]

YTD: Your Time Dinning.

[pe4all]

Jimbo - looking forward to your review - especially the Grand Turk part. We were on the Splendor, and you guys must have been wondering why we circled, hung out, turned towards and away from GT, before finally docking after almost 2 hours. Sunshine is on my to-do list, and I am hoping you convince me to sail her, as it looked like deck (lounge) space was not as good as other ships - though Serenity looked great!

[jimbo5544]

Man was that water cold or what! I thought it was like taking a polar plunge in both pool and water works area. I have never actually participated in polar club activities but would guess this would as close as I will ever get. I thought the water slides were pretty intense than what I was thinking they would be like:eek:.

LOL, the water was chilly. I groaned every time the grandkids asked me to join them.

[jimbo5544]

This is the part of our trip that left a bad taste in our mouths as they say... After reading plenty of other reviews and knowing a bit of what to expect we tried to plan accordingly. As most of our group of 7 typically eat early our plan was to get to the YTD check-in desk as closed to 5:15 as possible. Well it seemed as though half or more of the other YTD guests had the same idea. Well one of the issues is that the line qickly reaches into the stinky casino on deck 5. Almost every night there was a wait just to get checked in before 5pm.

Well on Valentines night apparently there was a miss print in the fun times as to when dinner service began. Which created a big problem. Instead of 5:15 they posted it was 6pm. With reading that this night formal night gets lenghty we planned on getting in line to wait for check in at 5:30. This is where we found out our plan my not work or all these people are CC members as well. We waited 2hours just to get our paper ticket so we could go to the dinning room to be seated! Doing our best to keep the kids occupied with tablets and games as best we could. (We typically would shun at having games at the table ect. But knew tonight would be our best option.) During this wait we kept periodically checking with the check in hostesses making sure our pager was still working. They told us that many of the guests in the dinning room were done eating but not leaving when they were done... The service was running a little bit slower than other nights but I read to expect this. Well not getting food till after 8 was more than one of the twins could handle and fell asleep in his chair waiting for his dinner. Many of the following nights the kids opted to eat with camp c kids after this experience. I don't blame them. But we did not wish to dine at lido.

One more thing about dinner because of it being valentine's day they scrapped the dessert menu and was a preset strawberry mousse. Not really a fan of mousse. Not sure what regular dessert we missed... maybe the cherries jubilee...?

This then leads into the frustrating finale of the night. The Liquid Lounge and the Motown show. With sleepy kids and tense night we tried to make the last show at 9:30 cutting our waiters off trying to wish us happy anniversary we rushed to the lounge. Well let me tell you this. This venue may have worked with the set times dinning but not really the best for such a varied numbers of viewers YTD plus the set dinners creates.(IMO) As many have been witness to "Chogs" at the pool by day they morph into "Schogs" (show chair hogs) by night! They were saving rows of seats with less than 5 or 10 min show time! This was the final nail in coffin for the night and really set me off as I became slightly vocal as I corralled my family back out of the theater. Sadly the Motown show was one that my oldest really could have connected to being that he just the week prior he had a school project about Berry Gordy jr. The founder of motown records.:(

After that night it was lineup city all over the ship. Wait in line 30min for dinner check in. Then stand in line for the lime light lounge or liquid to get seats we stood many times 30 min for shows as well. But that in part was due to the other members of the group not wanting to miss a show after the formal failure night.

We have never done YTD, so I cannot really comment on your comments. That said, I will say that second night was the longest check in line for YTD we have ever seen on any ship. There was someone posting on cruisecritic live from the ship (I was monitoring it as well) and they did say it got better. Your answer as to why makes sense, and while I understand the whole concept of YTD I am not a huge fan of lines and it always seemed to me that if we did it it would be another line. We also enjoy the interaction with the waitstaff (yeah I know you can ask for the same ones with YTD) so it was/is just one more reason why we prefer assigned dining.

 

We did not seem to have as much of a problem with getting in the show (we sat upstairs and kind of on the side), but I understand your frustration. I will have more to say about some of the limitations with show rooms on the Sunshine a little later on.

 

Lastly, which we had met, we have twins as well (lol, ours are grown now and have kids of their own).

 

 

[jimbo5544]

I liked what they had to offer at the Havana bar area at breakfast and lunch. But, just like the lido market area there is little to no change in the offerings sitting under heat lamps... Food tasted good the first time around but passed after a 2nd sampling.:rolleyes:

 

While I have tried the Cuban offerings on our past cruise, I did not venture there again this time. My mention of this area was much more of an area of the ship that seems to be a secret for a good portion of the cruise, thus getting away from some of the Lido crowds during lunch and breakfast. From my perspective, lido food (for the mist part) is lido food, no matter which line or ship you cruise on. What sets Carnival apart(to some degree) is the option of Guys and the Blue Iguana and the Wok and Cucina for lunch anyway.

[jimbo5544]

Jimbo sorry to kind of hijack your thread (not on purpose). But other than those issues we had I had a good time. I give the overall trip a 7 or 8 out of 10. Would like to go back to St. Kitts and see the city since we docked at the cargo pier. Didn't know but apparently they had free shuttles to Basseterre. We went to Carambola beach... let me not get ahead of you sorry.

 

LOL, no worries. They did have free shuttles. No worries on hijacking, my review is our story, you sailed it as well and welcome to post anything you want.

[jimbo5544]

So, I'm new here in case you can't tell by my moniker. Jimbo, I'm enjoying your review. As a newbie and not having a clue as to some of the lingo and guessing at some, one I can't figure out is YTD. I know it has something to do with dining, duh, but not sure exactly what.

 

I'm scheduled to sail out of NYC on July 12, 2016. At 64 yrs of age, this is the first time ever for me on any kind of boat, much less a ship of this magnitude. Might as well start off grand, eh?

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your reviews, everyone, and seeing your pictures. I'll be traveling with a group of 17, the entire family inlaws and all. This will be extremely interesting since we've never all been in the same proximity for 8 days or even 2.

 

I'm very excited about this trip although having read the review by kindatravelsavy19, I got a little concerned about all the waiting in lines to get in here and there. I have bad arthritis and can't stand for more than 5 minutes without pain. Can't imagine standing in line for 30 minutes for anything. Please tell me that isn't the norm. And I'm getting the impression that being able to get a poolside chair is going to be a bad dream. Chair hogs? What does one do when there isn't an available chair in sight? Just forgo the pool altogether? I'm looking forward to some pool fun with the grands. I'm hoping this isn't as bad as it sounds. One of my daughters booked this trip. I will say I'm quite surprised there is only one small swimming pool and two hot tubs. How does that really work? I hope I don't sound like Debbiedowner here. I really am looking forward to my trip of a lifetime.[/size][/size]

 

First of all, congrats on your first post on CC. Secondly, as a fellow nutmeger (yeah I know it's not a word;)) welcome to cruisecritic. Also, I live a stone's throw away from you in North Branford.

 

I will attempt to answer your questions in small replies. Our cruise was a spring break cruise for the northeast, their were over 600 kids (that was what I was told) on the ship which is by far not the norm. That being said, there will always be (maybe not a med cruise) kids on a Carnival ship. The Sunshine has two pools, one in the main pool area and one in Serenity (above and forward of the main pool). The serenity pool is for adults only. To balance the fact they only have one pool for kids, the entire aft of the ship is a water park.

[jimbo5544]

Jimbo - looking forward to your review - especially the Grand Turk part. We were on the Splendor, and you guys must have been wondering why we circled, hung out, turned towards and away from GT, before finally docking after almost 2 hours. Sunshine is on my to-do list, and I am hoping you convince me to sail her, as it looked like deck (lounge) space was not as good as other ships - though Serenity looked great!

 

Thanks, it did take you guys a while to get in to GT. It took us some time as well. I will try to give you as much information on the Sunshine, but if you have a question please ask. Serenity is great, more to follow on GT.

[jimbo5544]

So, I'm new here in case you can't tell by my moniker. Jimbo, I'm enjoying your review. As a newbie and not having a clue as to some of the lingo and guessing at some, one I can't figure out is YTD. I know it has something to do with dining, duh, but not sure exactly what.

 

I'm scheduled to sail out of NYC on July 12, 2016. At 64 yrs of age, this is the first time ever for me on any kind of boat, much less a ship of this magnitude. Might as well start off grand, eh?

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your reviews, everyone, and seeing your pictures. I'll be traveling with a group of 17, the entire family inlaws and all. This will be extremely interesting since we've never all been in the same proximity for 8 days or even 2.

 

I'm very excited about this trip although having read the review by kindatravelsavy19, I got a little concerned about all the waiting in lines to get in here and there. I have bad arthritis and can't stand for more than 5 minutes without pain. Can't imagine standing in line for 30 minutes for anything. Please tell me that isn't the norm. And I'm getting the impression that being able to get a poolside chair is going to be a bad dream. Chair hogs? What does one do when there isn't an available chair in sight? Just forgo the pool altogether? I'm looking forward to some pool fun with the grands. I'm hoping this isn't as bad as it sounds. One of my daughters booked this trip. I will say I'm quite surprised there is only one small swimming pool and two hot tubs. How does that really work? I hope I don't sound like Debbiedowner here. I really am looking forward to my trip of a lifetime.[/size][/size]

 

For a first cruise, sailing out of New York is SPECTACULAR. There are many, many great photo ops not to be missed in doing so. I have a review on here with some pics (I think anyway:confused:) of sail away on the Splendor from New York doing the same cruise itinerary you are doing. I can post a link to it if you want to see. I also did a review of our first sailing on the Sunshine in August which has more ship pics. The link to that is a page or two up from here when I posted it on request. Lastly on this point, a couple of pages before that there is a link I posted of someone who did a video of the ship (same sailing, but I don't think was a poster on our roll call) which is really good and gives you a great idea of many areas of the ship.

[mibarron]

For a first cruise, sailing out of New York is SPECTACULAR. There are many, many great photo ops not to be missed in doing so. I have a review on here with some pics (I think anyway:confused:) of sail away on the Splendor from New York doing the same cruise itinerary you are doing. I can post a link to it if you want to see. I also did a review of our first sailing on the Sunshine in August which has more ship pics. The link to that is a page or two up from here when I posted it on request. Lastly on this point, a couple of pages before that there is a link I posted of someone who did a video of the ship (same sailing, but I don't think was a poster on our roll call) which is really good and gives you a great idea of many areas of the ship.

 

 

I was initially going to drive to NY when we sail on Sunshine, but $40 a day for parking. Holy cow!!! We may take the train to Penn station instead and get a cab to the pier.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

I was initially going to drive to NY when we sail on Sunshine, but $40 a day for parking. Holy cow!!! We may take the train to Penn station instead and get a cab to the pier.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I agree, we got dropped off.

[jimbo5544]

So, I'm new here in case you can't tell by my moniker. Jimbo, I'm enjoying your review. As a newbie and not having a clue as to some of the lingo and guessing at some, one I can't figure out is YTD. I know it has something to do with dining, duh, but not sure exactly what.

 

I'm scheduled to sail out of NYC on July 12, 2016. At 64 yrs of age, this is the first time ever for me on any kind of boat, much less a ship of this magnitude. Might as well start off grand, eh?

 

I'm looking forward to reading more of your reviews, everyone, and seeing your pictures. I'll be traveling with a group of 17, the entire family inlaws and all. This will be extremely interesting since we've never all been in the same proximity for 8 days or even 2.

 

I'm very excited about this trip although having read the review by kindatravelsavy19, I got a little concerned about all the waiting in lines to get in here and there. I have bad arthritis and can't stand for more than 5 minutes without pain. Can't imagine standing in line for 30 minutes for anything. Please tell me that isn't the norm. And I'm getting the impression that being able to get a poolside chair is going to be a bad dream. Chair hogs? What does one do when there isn't an available chair in sight? Just forgo the pool altogether? I'm looking forward to some pool fun with the grands. I'm hoping this isn't as bad as it sounds. One of my daughters booked this trip. I will say I'm quite surprised there is only one small swimming pool and two hot tubs. How does that really work? I hope I don't sound like Debbiedowner here. I really am looking forward to my trip of a lifetime.[/size][/size]

The last comment I will make is on chair hogs. They are a part of cruising, there is no doubt about it. People will be out early an in force to get a chair by the pool. That said, they have been on every ship I have been on. There are several points I would bring up to consider.

 

First is, do you really want to be poolside, my response (for you;)) is probably not. The pools will be most crowded on sea days. For your cruise this will be the first and last two days. You are allowed to reserve chairs for 40 minutes. We typically bring towels up when we go to breakfast and after eating return to the chairs. I have never had a problem with that. If you show up at 11:30, you will be looking for a bit. The deck above the pool will be easier. If they are really tight ask an attendant, he will mark chairs that have empty for a while and if none shows remove the stuff. The other thing they will assist with is getting you other chairs. Hope this helps.

 

The other thing is shows. I have not experienced what kindoftravelsavy19 describes (at least to the extent). The main show room on the Sunshine is smaller than almost every other ship. Seats will be tight, we usually go to the upper level.

[Virgincruiser510]

YTD: Your Time Dinning.

 

Ah, vs assigned dining. Thank you very much. Makes sense. If it's set up for assigned dining whatever those letters are, can you do the YTD anyway or are you tied to the assigned dining? Since we're a group of 17, it might not even come up, but I'm wondering if I might have that option or even the option to just grab a bite on the Lido deck somewhere. How strict are they in the dining room?

 

Jimbo, sorry to be getting off-topic. Kindatravelsavy19, thanks for your help.

[Virgincruiser510]

Thank you Jimbo. Please continue with your review. I was so enjoying reading all about it.

[jimbo5544]

Ah, vs assigned dining. Thank you very much. Makes sense. If it's set up for assigned dining whatever those letters are, can you do the YTD anyway or are you tied to the assigned dining? Since we're a group of 17, it might not even come up, but I'm wondering if I might have that option or even the option to just grab a bite on the Lido deck somewhere. How strict are they in the dining room?

 

Jimbo, sorry to be getting off-topic. Kindatravelsavy19, thanks for your help.

My advice with a group that size would be assigned dining. They will put you at tables that will work, even if you all prepay tips and have different wait staff (that happens a lot to us as groups, which we mainly sail in) you can bounce between tables (if you would like). What you can't do is flip flop between the two of them (assigned and YTD). You have to pick one. Strict as in what sense, are you referring to?

 

No apologies needed for the questions, that is a good part of why I post my reviews.