Carnival Sunshine - A Comprehensive, Realistic Review

[HO HO]

Appreciate the reveiw - cruises are what you make of them, and it's amazing how many folks come away with negative thoughts -- they may be just as unhappy at home!

 

We're sailing on Sunshine in April 2017 on an 8 day to the Southern Caribbean and looking forward to it.

[xplayer]

I agree we are going on our 3 cruise on the sunshine in Jan. Between the Magic and the sunshine they have to be our two favorite ships.

[dewke]

My wife and I just did the shorter Bermuda cruise on the Sunshine (out of Norfolk) and I'm surprised by any overly negative comments about the boat.

 

This was our second trip on the Sunshine and we've liked it both times but there are a few things to note:

 

• My wife smokes and there are few places to smoke on the ship.
  
• The line for any time dining can be long, even if you're platinum.
  
• Carnival needs a few more waiters in the casino as you can wait a long time for drinks
  

 

Now the good about the ship

• The crew is great.
  
• The food was the best I've had on any cruise - I would recommend Ji-Ji, but even the MDR had different menus with new choices.
  
• The overnight stop in Bermuda was fun and we would do that again.
  
• Nothing felt terribly overcrowded
  

 

We both like the Sunshine and would 100% sail on her again

[mizLORInj]

We enjoyed the Sunshine in September and I would cruise on it again. LOVED Deja Vu -- thought they were great.

 

We also are fans of scooters to get around and the Boston Whaler rentals in Bermuda! As long as you're careful, you are fine. Awareness on the road is paramount of course.

 

Thanks for your review.

[summersigh]

FOOD

We never set foot in the main dining room as we don't care about dressing up and we have no desire to sit an hour or two listening to the life stories of strangers while waiting for food that is overrated, over or undercooked, often just lukewarm and sometimes cold, etc. We would rather get food that is not fancy but perfectly good so we can eat it and get back to whatever activities there are onboard. Each to their own.

We pretty much agree with your review and enjoyed our Sunshine cruises as you did.

 

I felt the need to say that, for us, dinner in the main dining room was a very pleasant experience. We had a table for 2 (no need to be "listening to the life stories of strangers while waiting for food") with a very nice and very accommodating set of waiters and assistants.

 

"Dressing up" for a CCL dinner, except for "elegant" nights, even allows for shorts and t-shirts. Even on the "elegant" nights DH wore khakis, a collared cotton short sleeve shirt and loafers without socks - and was not overly under-dressed.

 

All in all, our food was tasty (we do avoid the CCL red marinara/spagetti/pizza sauce like the plague :) ) and the dishes were properly warm.

 

To speed things up, if desired, we asked for the desert menu along with the dinner menu. We ordered both at the same time and desert was served as soon as we finished our entree.

 

To People reading the review ... Fear not the MDR ! :D

Edited October 31, 2016 by summersigh

[summersigh]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving on the Sunshine December 26th and am enjoying this board for reviews and helpful tips. This is our first cruise and can't wait! Kids are a little bummed that we booked our flight at 5 Christmas morning, but don't know we have a surprise day at Universal planned for them! :D

All the kids we've seen on the Sunshine seemed to be having a great time between the water slides, ropes courses, ping pong, basketball, pool, movies and the kids club activities.:D

 

For Christmas night you might like to give each a small wrapped gift like a book by a favorite author that they could read if there's time between activities.

 

The dining room staff seem to really enjoy having children at their stations. Many have their own kids back home and appear to get pleasure out interacting with other kids.

Edited October 31, 2016 by summersigh