Sunshine vs Conquest Punchliner

[ajs2294]

Hi all, 

 

I'm looking to book a cruise departing on 3/16. Conquest and Sunshine are running the same ports. It seems the general word is that Sunshine is the "better" of the two ships. However, it has issues with the comedy club which can include waiting in long lines for a spot. For my SO and I comedy is a major part of our cruise. Would we be best to fly down to FLL and take Conquest?

[PhillyFan33579]

If your decision is only based on going to comedy shows, Conquest is the clear choice and it’s not even close. 

[Saint Greg]

I would say you’re going to do better on conquest for comedy. While I haven’t been on sunshine, I’ve seen the deck plans. And basically what they’ve done is changed the real comedy club on deck 5 aft into additional rooms and moved the comedy club to the smaller bar across from the aft dining room on deck 4. I like the bar in that club better...but it’s going to hold less people overall.

 

As a comedy club junkie I want no part of the sunshine/sunrise/radiance  comedy club...and what they’ve done to the comedy club on fantasy is even worse.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Saint Greg

[PhillyFan33579]

Saint Greg, I don’t understand why Carnival is moving towards smaller lounges on their newer ships and when they redesign some of their older ships.  That is one of the most common complaints I hear online, from friends, from people I meet on cruises, at D&P parties, at Q&As with CDs, etc.

[Joebucks]

11 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Saint Greg, I don’t understand why Carnival is moving towards smaller lounges on their newer ships and when they redesign some of their older ships.  That is one of the most common complaints I hear online, from friends, from people I meet on cruises, at D&P parties, at Q&As with CDs, etc.

 

I've always shared your view here. It appears that they are going to have a larger, dedicated venue in the Mardi Gras. Let's hope!

[jsglow]

If Comedy is your thing, avoid the Sunshine.  We love the ship for other reasons.  But the Punchliner is poorly designed.

[Earthworm Jim]

15 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Saint Greg, I don’t understand why Carnival is moving towards smaller lounges on their newer ships and when they redesign some of their older ships.  That is one of the most common complaints I hear online, from friends, from people I meet on cruises, at D&P parties, at Q&As with CDs, etc.

 

Presumably to leave more room for extra cabins, as they did on the Sunshine.

[Saint Greg]

1 minute ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Presumably to leave more room for extra cabins, as they did on the Sunshine.

 

It was definitely a design flaw to put them in the back instead of balcony rooms, but they didn't have to make it smaller with no bar on Vista and newer ships.

[Lee Cruiser]

Personally, I would take the Conquest over the Sunshine any time.  That is especially true for the comedy club.  The comedy club on the Sunshine is very small and people walk through it during the middle of the show going to the dining room.  The Sunshine has a terrible layout in many ways.  It is one of our least favorite ships.  Conquest is much better!

[HectorAchilleus]

1 hour ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Personally, I would take the Conquest over the Sunshine any time.  That is especially true for the comedy club.  The comedy club on the Sunshine is very small and people walk through it during the middle of the show going to the dining room.  The Sunshine has a terrible layout in many ways.  It is one of our least favorite ships.  Conquest is much better!

Totally agree with this! If you like lines and waiting for a possible standing room place in the comedy club, pick Sunshine. I will never sail that ship again. 

[BoDidly]

Conquest by far and wide wins the day  Its obvious the Sunshine packs em in.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, HectorAchilleus said:

Totally agree with this! If you like lines and waiting for a possible standing room place in the comedy club, pick Sunshine. I will never sail that ship again. 

 

To be fair, Vista and Horizon are not too far behind when it comes to their comedy club lounges. 

[TNGirlMom]

We have this exact cruise booked on the Conquest. We loved the comedy club lounge the last time we were on the Conquest so that's one of the reasons we booked it over the Sunshine (among other reasons). Maybe we'll run into you one night during a show.

[ajs2294]

4 hours ago, TNGirlMom said:

We have this exact cruise booked on the Conquest. We loved the comedy club lounge the last time we were on the Conquest so that's one of the reasons we booked it over the Sunshine (among other reasons). Maybe we'll run into you one night during a show.

 

Awesome to hear, we still haven't booked as we were holding out for inlaws to join. It looks like the only balcony rooms left now are on deck 6 right above bars... Sadly, we may be taking a different cruise. 

[jsglow]

As usual, the bashing of the Sunshine begins.  Yes, the comedy club is substandard.  Yes, the Serenity area is the best in the Carnival fleet by FAR.  So it all depends on what you want.  Sunshine is a unique platform that we actually liked a great deal.

[Eliot Ness]

5 minutes ago, jsglow said:

..........Sunshine is a unique platform that we actually liked a great deal.

 

I wasn't aware that Carnival started renaming some of their older ships after retrofits and thought the Sunshine was a newer (larger) class than Conquest until after we booked.  I quickly discovered that she used to be the Destiny until a large make-over and except for the comedy club and maybe the Liquid Lounge I think we'll enjoy sailing on her next week.  We've had a good time on much smaller ships so we're looking forward to the Sunshine.  If the comedy club has a bar maybe we can just show up early and drink until the show begins?  If not I'm sure we'll find other places to hang out.  Thanks for putting in a good word for her jsglow!

[jsglow]

1 hour ago, Eliot Ness said:

 

I wasn't aware that Carnival started renaming some of their older ships after retrofits and thought the Sunshine was a newer (larger) class than Conquest until after we booked.  I quickly discovered that she used to be the Destiny until a large make-over and except for the comedy club and maybe the Liquid Lounge I think we'll enjoy sailing on her next week.  We've had a good time on much smaller ships so we're looking forward to the Sunshine.  If the comedy club has a bar maybe we can just show up early and drink until the show begins?  If not I'm sure we'll find other places to hang out.  Thanks for putting in a good word for her jsglow!

 

 

We sailed on her both as Destiny and Sunshine.  You'll see lots of folks complain that have actually never been aboard.  Couple little tidbits.  The aft Havana area is a great spot to take your lunch out from Lido.  Often not as crowded.  We always got a table.  The entire Serenity is fantastic.  No other Carnival ship has anything like it.  We also enjoyed the Red Frog brewpub.  Sunshine has all the bells and whistles of the brand new builds but often sails at modestly less money.  That's good by me.  What itinerary are you doing? 

[Eliot Ness]

We're doing the 8 day southern.  We already have the Havana area, Serenity, and Red Frog penciled in as high spots... thanks!

[jsglow]

8 day southern is high on our bucket list.  We did 8 day eastern in 2017 on her.

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, jsglow said:

As usual, the bashing of the Sunshine begins.  Yes, the comedy club is substandard.  Yes, the Serenity area is the best in the Carnival fleet by FAR.  So it all depends on what you want.  Sunshine is a unique platform that we actually liked a great deal.

 

I would argue that the Serenity area on Spirit class ships are the best,  but I am also a big fan of the Serenity area on Sunshine and disappointed it is not being duplicated on Sunrise and Radiance.  

[jsglow]

50 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I would argue that the Serenity area on Spirit class ships are the best,  but I am also a big fan of the Serenity area on Sunshine and disappointed it is not being duplicated on Sunrise and Radiance.  

 

 

They are good on the Spirit class boats, for sure.

[Bowman1]

We have sailed the Sunshine and three Conquest Class Ships (Freedom, Liberty and Valor)

 

If comedy is your deciding factor, than sail the Conquest - Sunshine’s comedy club is small, fills-up early and a third of the seats can not see the stage (you watch on TVs)

 

Otherwise, Sunshine is a great ship.  The Havana Bar is better than on the Vista, waterworks is the best that we have seen on Carnival and they do some innovative shows with the way that the main show lounge is configured,

 

[NWACruiser]

Sunshine Comedy Club

 

TV on the side of the venue to allow you to see the stage.

 

They could do something different to the room to make it better.  This room replaced the original lounge on the Destiny.  This room was not reconfigured in the makeover.

 

The original lounge was on deck 5.  They converted it into the Alchemy Bar, Ocean Plaza, and Red Frog Lounge.  

 

Maybe in a future dry dock, they will reconfigure the punchliner club.

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by NWACruiser

[moondog73]

We have been on the Sunshine twice and saw the comedy shows every night without problem.  Sure you can't get there just as the show is starting but then again how often can you go to a movie theater as the previews are ending and not end up in crappy seats.  I remember only waiting in line one time and that was for maybe 5 minutes.  We always got good seats.  All it takes is a bit of planning

[jsglow]

One of the things they might consider is spinning the club 90 degrees.  That's how it's being handled on the two new rebuilds (Sunrise and Radiance) and from the drawings it seems to fix the problem pretty nicely.  Again, other than that they did an excellent job at improving efficiency and eliminating 'dead' or underutilized common area space on the ship.  That's the one thing that all the overly simplistic guests/common area ratios fail to account for.  Sunshine has done a very good job of making their common areas useful and utilized throughout the day.  The two 'tight' spots are near Guy's and Blue Iguana.  There, the width of the ship is the controlling factor.