I'm on the Sunshine right now, until 3/16/19

[campdaan]

Hi Everyone 

 

On the Sunshine posting with the middle Internet package. It's kinda slow, but a million times better than the old pay by the minute internet. 

 

This is my 16th Carnival cruise. 2nd on the Sunshine. We did the Sunshine last March and liked it so much we booked again. 

 

I will take questions, but I will not be posting any Funtimes because things change quickly Cruise to Cruise. 

 

Sooo... Anyone want to ask a question ?

[mamiamjo]

We’ll be on her in two weeks. Would be glad to hear about your opinions and experiences.

have a great cruise!

[campdaan]

3 minutes ago, mamiamjo said:

We’ll be on her in two weeks. Would be glad to hear about your opinions and experiences.

have a great cruise!

 

So far, so good. 

 

My my only complaint is that the shower curtain in my room is an inch too short and water gets everywhere. 

 

My cabin steward ward keeps saying he will take care of it, but 2 days in, it hasn't been done. 

 

We have a cabin cabin next door, where the curtain is fine. 

 

Other than that...  we are good !

[schazzy]

We will be on the Sunshine in 48 days! The only thing I haven't seen anything about in my research that we're curious about is if the deli is the old menu or the new menu with the pre-made sandwiches? DH loves the turkey on the country roll at lunch and wondering if it's still available.  

[campdaan]

42 minutes ago, schazzy said:

We will be on the Sunshine in 48 days! The only thing I haven't seen anything about in my research that we're curious about is if the deli is the old menu or the new menu with the pre-made sandwiches? DH loves the turkey on the country roll at lunch and wondering if it's still available.  

 

Its the new menu. 

 

And no more panini press, it's been replaced with toaster ovens. 

 

The selection looks great, but I didn't see the country rolls. 

 

I'll double check. 

[young_ens]

Cool timing, we'll be on her in 4 weeks!   Questions are how was embarcation (chaotic)?   This would depend on where your cabin is, but how is the sunshine in terms on steadiness on the water? DW prone to seasickness, appreciate a heads up!  

Thanks and enjoy your cruise!

Edited March 10, 2019 by young_ens

[Hoops_Baller]

We will be on in 2 weeks...interested to hear your observations....can't wait!

[campdaan]

22 minutes ago, young_ens said:

Cool timing, we'll be on her in 4 weeks!   Questions are how was embarcation (chaotic)?   This would depend on where your cabin is, but how is the sunshine in terms on steadiness on the water? DW prone to seasickness, appreciate a heads up!  

Thanks and enjoy your cruise!

 

Embarkation was very quick, but I'm Platinum, so we get the fast track. 

 

Also, we had a delay going to the Port because Mom thought she might have a bladder infection, so we went to the clinic in Cocoa Beach, where they gave her a prescription for antibiotics. 

 

Still, from the time we got to the Ship to the actual getting onboard was about 15-20 minutes. 

 

We are on Lido Deck by choice, so we dropped our stuff off and Mom made her 1pm haircut appointment in the Spa, and I got to the BBQ on deck 5.

 

BTW. If you look at the replay of sail away ( March 8 ) on the Port Canaveral webcam, I can be seen about 2 minutes in with my NASA T-shirt waving my stuffed penguin Waddles. 

 

Waddles is from my days of hosting CruiseCritic cruises. When we would tell folks to look for the penguin. 

 

The Captain granted Waddles permission to go to the Bridge later in the Cruise. Stay tuned. 

[campdaan]

24 minutes ago, Hoops_Baller said:

We will be on in 2 weeks...interested to hear your observations....can't wait!

 

I will definitely do a wrap up report. 

 

This Cruise is more of a relaxation Cruise. We have been to all our Ports several times, so we really don't have much planned. 

 

That, and I'm 59, the wife is 60, and Mom is a very active 90. But we definitely don't move as fast as we did on my first cruise when I was 43. If you know what I mean. 

[schazzy]

Tell Waddles that Percy says hello 

 

[campdaan]

 

Right backatcha. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by campdaan

[Anyislandwilldo]

Lucky you!!  Enjoy your cruise!!

[audcc77]

3 hours ago, campdaan said:

 

My my only complaint is that the shower curtain in my room is an inch too short and water gets everywhere. 

 

My cabin steward ward keeps saying he will take care of it, but 2 days in, it hasn't been done. 

 

 

2 days with water "everywhere" ?   Yeah.  This is where I'd say, "I see that you've not had time to get me a longer shower curtain.   No worries; I'll just run mine down to Guest Services and ask for one that works."   🙂  

 

 

I'm hoping to sail the Sunshine at the end of this year...   Also hoping internet connection is better by the time I do...

 

 

 

[campdaan]

1 hour ago, audcc77 said:

 

2 days with water "everywhere" ?   Yeah.  This is where I'd say, "I see that you've not had time to get me a longer shower curtain.   No worries; I'll just run mine down to Guest Services and ask for one that works."   🙂  

 

 

I'm hoping to sail the Sunshine at the end of this year...   Also hoping internet connection is better by the time I do...

 

 

 

 

Well, it got taken care of in a roundabout way...

 

We requested a different dining table from the maitre'd because the booth that we were in had such soft seat cushions that my wife's shoulders were almost even with the table top.

 

They gave us a new table assignment with chairs. 

 

When the maitre'd asked if he could do anything else for us, I jokingly remarked that he could change our shower curtain. 

 

When we got got back to our room ( almost 10 pm because of late dining ) Housekeeping was in our room changing the curtain. 

 

That only leaves one one last complaint, and that's with CruiseCritic...

 

We had enough people on our roll call for a meet and mingle, but just like last year, radio silence. 

 

And to the other point about the Internet. It's improved since last year, and I thought it was pretty good then. It sure isn't FIOS, but it's been good enough for me to do eBay and YouTube. 

 

And speaking of such. I am able to hook my iPad into the hdmi input on the TV and toggle the input using the buttons on the side of the TV. 

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by campdaan

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, young_ens said:

Cool timing, we'll be on her in 4 weeks!   Questions are how was embarcation (chaotic)?   This would depend on where your cabin is, but how is the sunshine in terms on steadiness on the water? DW prone to seasickness, appreciate a heads up!  

Thanks and enjoy your cruise!

 

You can definitely feel the motion on Sunshine,  We were on her a few weeks on a Southern Carribean cruise and you could definitely feel the ship rocking when it wa moving.  But it wasn’t too bad. Both my wife and I felt the gentle rocking helped us sleep well. On the other hand, when we were on Miracle two months ago it was hard to tell the ship was moving most of time. 

[nhraformula00]

https://www.windy.com/-Waves-waves?waves,33.119,-76.069,5

It all depends on how high the waves are. It is dead calm this week.

[Llamabear]

Cruising in 35 days on Sunshine! Can't wait!! I've heard mixed reviews of the Serenity area, are you finding it crowded, or are there open loungers throughout the day? Thanks!

[campdaan]

9 minutes ago, Llamabear said:

Cruising in 35 days on Sunshine! Can't wait!! I've heard mixed reviews of the Serenity area, are you finding it crowded, or are there open loungers throughout the day? Thanks!

 

The Sunshine has an awesome Serenity area. Probably the biggest and best of any ship I've been on, but you do have a fair share of chair hogs. 

 

Today it was very windy on the highest deck and I did find a clamshell, but it shook like an earthquake. So I went down to deck 3 and lounged under the lifeboats. I also have a double balcony, so a lot of time has been enjoyed there. 

 

As as far as the ship movement, to answer another poster, you can feel the ship moving and rocking a bit. But, no one seems to mind, and I haven't seen anyone with the little dot ear patches. Personally, it doesn't bother me at all, I kinda like it. 

[Llamabear]

We have a spa balcony on deck 12, so if we're not enjoying our balcony, we're right by the serenity area anyway, but I saw a lot of complainers saying it was all full, and lot saying there were chairs to spare. I guess it kinda varies anyway. Hope you're having a great time!!!

[audcc77]

8 hours ago, campdaan said:

 

When the maitre'd asked if he could do anything else for us, I jokingly remarked that he could change our shower curtain. 

 

 

LOL 😂 

[PhillyFan33579]

7 hours ago, Llamabear said:

Cruising in 35 days on Sunshine! Can't wait!! I've heard mixed reviews of the Serenity area, are you finding it crowded, or are there open loungers throughout the day? Thanks!

 

When we were on Sunshine a few weeks ago, all the chairs on deck 11 where the pool is located were occupied by 8 AM on the first two sea days. 

 

I know a lot of people like the Serenity area on Sunshine, but to me it is my least favorite Serenity area of the 11 Carnival ships I have been on due to the noise from the Lido pool area. You can easily hear the noise from the Lido deck on all 3 levels of the Serenity area on Sunshine.  On our last two sea days (we had 4 total) we didn’t go to the Serenity area and just spent time on our balcony when we weren’t doing something else on the ship. 

[FloridaGram]

16 hours ago, campdaan said:

 

So far, so good. 

 

My my only complaint is that the shower curtain in my room is an inch too short and water gets everywhere. 

 

My cabin steward ward keeps saying he will take care of it, but 2 days in, it hasn't been done. 

 

We have a cabin cabin next door, where the curtain is fine. 

 

Other than that...  we are good !

Interesting you should comment on this. I had the same problem on the Liberty in January but on the Miracle last month it was perfect! So it CAN be fixed! And I am glad that I am not the only one who finds that annoying!

 

 

 

[campdaan]

44 minutes ago, FloridaGram said:

Interesting you should comment on this. I had the same problem on the Liberty in January but on the Miracle last month it was perfect! So it CAN be fixed! And I am glad that I am not the only one who finds that annoying!

 

 

 

 

I spoke to my cabin steward this morning who had no idea that I had gotten the job done. 

 

In fact, yesterday, he introduced me to his supervisor who was made aware of the problem, and she never got it done. 

 

This is is an example of the simplest things having to run a gauntlet, rather than just being fixed. Carnival happens.

 

A few years back, I had tried to book adjoining balconies at the future cruise desk, but that department didn't know what balconies connected together, but I could access Carnival's own booking site to give the Carnival representative that very information. I ended up telling them what rooms I wanted because they were restricted by their own company of that information which I got from their booking site. 

[summersigh]

13 hours ago, campdaan said:

 

That only leaves one one last complaint, and that's with CruiseCritic...

We had enough people on our roll call for a meet and mingle, but just like last year, radio silence.

 

we had 2 cruises recently with roll calls.  I think the problem is that these days more often than not folks join the roll call with a "hi - we're sailing on this cruise" then are never heard from again. 

We used to enjoy the meet and mingles because you got to meet folks face to face that you'd developed "friendships" with while awaiting the cruise.  Now it seems to be just a list of names with the exception of 3 or 4 people.

[summersigh]

Is there still a live band nightly in the Ocean Plaza?  We loved that on our previous 2 cruises aboard her

 

We love the Sunshine and even more now that she'll be sailing from Charleston .. this year the Bahamas (again  ) and next year Cuba