Sunshine 4 night 5/19 - some thoughts after seeing the staff issues firsthand

[vacruizer]

Hi everyone! Thought I’d share a few observations from last weekend’s 4 night cruise on the Sunshine from Charleston - both good and bad. My husband and I sailed to celebrate a birthday and knew going in that this was a short cruise on an old ship so tried to match our expectations to that.  I’ve sailed 20 prior Carnival cruises so know and love the brand. I’ve also sailed NCL a few times over the past 5 years. I’ll post this in segments on the room, bars, dining, etc. 
 

  Room - Embarkation was smooth and easy in Charleston and parking free if you are handicapped. We had an “ambulatory accessible” spa room 11032 on deck 11. These are marketed by Carnival as regular rooms for those who use canes or walkers but not wheelchairs with extra grab bars and a shower seat. Much to our surprise, the room was huge and originally meant to be fully accessible it seemed. Shower was roll in and even had a ramp to the large balcony.  Our room steward was awesome and always greeted us by name in the halls. On the other hand, there are serious plumbing issues on that deck. Our shower drains would bubble up sewage (loudly!) at least once a day. A few doors down the hall had a leak coming through the wall into the hallway and a wet, stinky carpet most of the cruise with fans blowing on it. Several nights we had no hot water. There was a little noise from being right next to Serenity and the door to it, but was a louder room from ship noises that any I’ve ever had. It was good white noise for me but a light sleeper might need earplugs.  The bed was one of the comfiest I’ve ever had at sea, though. 
 

The primary location issue was that this is sold as a handicapped room on a deck with only two elevators. One was out of service the entire cruise and the other taken out of service for luggage on embark/debark and all day while in Half Moon Cay. This is a huge issue for anyone unable to use stairs. I did talk to guest services the morning we wanted to debark in Half Moon Cay,  they told us they’d send an elevator.   We waited for quite a while before my husband finally slowly and painfully made his way down the steps to deck 10 where there are more elevators. Carnival needs to do better with this and not sell ADA rooms on floors without adequate elevator service! I know this is no big deal to most passengers but is huge for anyone with a mobility issue.  
 

More to come….
 

 

[ninjacat123]

Looking forward to your review!

[wgeddings]

We will be on Sunshine June 6 so anxious to read more.  Your comments were great and fair.  ADA rooms on a floor with little to no elevator service is very poor planning and operation and something Carnival should address.  Thankfully we will be on Deck 3 and are not disabled.  At least 1 elevator to an ADA cabin should always be in service.  
 

odd that there would be plumbing problems as described on a high deck.  I would have thought gravity would take care of that.  

[vacruizer]

Dining - food is always subjective. I should also add that I have some background in hospitality and restaurants and might notice things differently than others. You might love something I hate.
 

We had dinner in the steakhouse night 1 and it was amazing. Lots of new menu items since my last Carnival sailing.  We had a great waitress but obvious they are stretched thin and running hard to keep up  Little things like not clearing plates, no butter with bread, crumbs everywhere… the theme here is no one has time. 
 

We ate at JiJi one night and LOVED the food. We also had probably the best service of all our meals there. 
 

We ate two dinners and two sea day brunches in the main dining room and had anytime dining for dinner. The first elegant night was a mess. Food was nearly inedible, cold, dry like it had been under a heat lamp for a while….all tossed on the table with no waiter to ever return. I ordered a glass of wine and got the wrong one. Couldn’t even flag down a waiter. We were seated right by the kitchen door and these folks are working HARD.  One gentleman was limping and still hauling heavy trays. Dirty dishes piled up on the service station next to us. I truly feel bad for these guys.  I know they don’t want to provide that kind of service, but can’t help it. 
 

Our other dinner was much better and the two brunches weren’t bad. It wasn’t the Carnival I remember but adequate. All the waitstaff is rushed. And tired. Notice a theme here?

 

Guys burgers was good although the fries have changed to standard frozen ones. Pizza still great but hours reduced to 10am-3am. Had great pasta for lunch at Cucina but a 30 minute wait for it. They are now closed for dinner due to the staffing issues. Blue Iguana is still fantastic and rarely had much line. The main buffet looked ok but the only time I grabbed a few items they had been sitting there too long. Ice cream mix seems to have changed and tasted very artificial. My only cruise I never ate a full ice cream cone!

 

We rolled with all of this and never went hungry. Our biggest issue was lack of anyone cleaning tables. I hoped for better considering all the Covid protocols. Sometimes dishes sat for hours. We watched dining tables be reset without being cleaned in the main dining room.  When they were cleared, tables were not wiped. I’m not at all a germaphobe, but almost wished I had some wipes with me. Yuck. 
 

More to come tomorrow…
 

 

[ninjacat123]

Wow!  I was on Sunshine beginning of April and didn't see much of the dirty dish issue.  I worked in restaurants as well and am sensitive to that as well.  I wonder what has changed in Carnival's protocol?  I'm scheduled to cruise on Ecstacy (every time I say that I think it sounds bad😜) this Saturday so I'll be able to check out the staffing situation there.

Thanks for posting your review!

[mz-s]

I too have noticed the ice cream mixes not being as good as before. Before the vanilla tasted just like Dairy Queen's or McDonald's soft serve, very good. Now it's nasty.

[firefly333]

I thought carnival announced culcina was closed for both lunch and dinner now because of short staffing. I'm surprised to read it was open for lunch for you. Sounds like you were lucky. 

 

Carnival hc cabins are not the best and tiny. Rcl hc cabins are about double the size. I got moved to a hc cabin once .. not by choice. 4J and it was so small the twin beds didnt push together. People should know hc cabins on carnival are barely that. 

 

Sorry to hear about the elevators. My sister is hc and once we had to do stairs to get off the ship or wait to disembark.....yikes. that arm thing you walk off that slants broke. My sister is hc not me, but my pvp said it's on my record is why I got changed to a hc cabin when I'm not. 

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 minute ago, firefly333 said:

I thought carnival announced culcina was closed for both lunch and dinner now because of short staffing. I'm surprised to read it was open for lunch for you. Sounds like you were lucky. 

 

Carnival hc cabins are not the best and tiny. Rcl hc cabins are about double the size. I got moved to a hc cabin once .. not by choice. 4J and it was so small the twin beds didnt push together. People should know hc cabins on carnival are barely that. 

 

Sorry to hear about the elevators. My sister is hc and once we had to do stairs to get off the ship or wait to disembark.....yikes. that arm thing you walk off that slants broke. My sister is hc not me, but my pvp said it's on my record is why I got changed to a hc cabin when I'm not. 

They just closed it for Dinner. Lunch was still on the menu.

[firefly333]

3 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

They just closed it for Dinner. Lunch was still on the menu.

I saw a post elsewhere maybe the wrong info it was also closing for lunch. Glad it was wrong. I dont have the post handy and leaving the house now... I'll read this hc review later. Interesting.

[Guest BasicSailor]

3 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I saw a post elsewhere maybe the wrong info it was also closing for lunch. Glad it was wrong. I dont have the post handy and leaving the house now... I'll read this hc review later. Interesting.

Listen if anyone gets a chance to correct one of the greats around here, it's a chest swelling experience 😉🤣

[vacruizer]

3 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Wow!  I was on Sunshine beginning of April and didn't see much of the dirty dish issue.  I worked in restaurants as well and am sensitive to that as well.  I wonder what has changed in Carnival's protocol?  I'm scheduled to cruise on Ecstacy (every time I say that I think it sounds bad😜) this Saturday so I'll be able to check out the staffing situation there.

Thanks for posting your review!

I think they probably have way less staff now to handle it. Many crew from restart are now headed home for vacation and the visa backlog is keeping them from getting enough new crew onboard. They’ve closed dinner at Cucina and cancelled the diamond/platinum parties because of it amongst other things. 
 

 

[vacruizer]

Next up is everyone’s favorite - the bars!!!  These folks are some of the hardest working people on the ship!  I’m a long time Alchemy fan and love craft cocktails and good bourbon. On the flip side, my husband doesn’t drink, but does like nice coffee, seltzer waters, juices, and milkshakes. After much debate on lugging bottles of wine and budget for cocktails, we finally opted for Cheers (using 10% off AARP gift cards to save a little).  We didn’t regret it. 
 

Our favorite spots were Alchemy, the atrium, and Red Frog. Great drinks and bartenders- Dusan and Zoltan in Alchemy, Elizabeth in Red Frog who has been with Carnival 26 years now, and Zofia in the Atrium were all great. And working their tails off. They couldn’t keep up. They would have one bartender when they needed two or three at peak times. And no waiters roaming to serve seating which hit the bar even harder with everyone walking up and impatiently wanting drinks. 
 

I saw one young bartender cry at one point. They all look exhausted. Outside the venues I mentioned, it was a sling drinks as fast as you can and the heck with quality..they didn’t have time. One told me he had worked a 17 hour day. Another said he was being asked to extend his contract and shorten vacation. Two more said last contract and they won’t be back. This staff shortage is killing them. They are tired and stressed. I actually poured out several pool bar drinks they were so bad - I was glad I had cheers. This was an packed cruise with lots of college graduation parties so the bars were slammed on top of being short staffed. Having been a bartender myself it was hard for me to watch them struggle so much. Dirty glasses piled up, Bars not wiped down, recipes not followed, wrong drinks served…many seemed defeated and were beyond caring about customer service. They were too busy to provide it even if they wanted to. 
 

 

One other note, I looked forward to the Havana bar and Latin snacks. Half the bar was closed for the cruise and they were out of many ingredients for the menu drinks. Snacks are no longer served there. You could see where they once had live music there but no more. It was a little sad to see such a beautiful space not being used.  They were also not serving coffee in the mornings and later often didn’t know how to make the Cuban coffees there. The main deck 5 coffee bar was great, though. 
 

We still had a great time with drinks and fun, but felt really bad for the struggling staff with nowhere near enough people. 

[Tippyton]

This makes me sad.  Best cruise we had was on Sunshine.

[vacruizer]

Entertainment - Cruise director TJ is lots of fun. He and his staff were high energy and fun whether at deck parties or daily games and trivias. He makes more announcements than I’ve heard in a while, though!  
 

We tried to see a comedy show twice and doors were already closed with a full venue 15 minutes ahead and people already lined up for the next show an hour later.  We opted not to sit in a inside hall waiting and go find some other fun. We also tried to see the love and marriage show the other night and there were no seats to be found. 
 

There was very little live music on the ship compared to most cruises. I’m not sure if it was Covid issues, staffing again , or both. There was one rock band that was ok, the piano bar, and one solo guitarist who was almost painful to listen to. He was trying to read songs off a tablet that he obviously didn’t know and had never heard before. Very young kid - we wondered if it was his first cruise gig. People would literally get up and leave when he played, poor guy. We are both musicians and felt bad for him, too.  No violin trio or island/reggae band on this ship. The Havana bar and Red Frog stages went unused this cruise. We did not check out the production shows. 
 

The 80s deck party was probably the craziest event of the cruise. So much fun!!!  People just kept dancing after it was over and we had fun checking out all the crazy outfits people wore.  This cruise was a high energy party crowd and ready to have fun!

 

 

[vacruizer]

32 minutes ago, Tippyton said:

This makes me sad.  Best cruise we had was on Sunshine.

We still had a great time. But it made me sad, too. I’m not a complainer and love Carnival. I’m hoping they can get staffed back up and pull through this. 

[Pellaz]

The staffing and visa issues are quite real.  

 

On my last cruise (on the Sunrise), I was chatting up the bartender at the aft pool bar.  He said they were 30-40 crew short on food-and-bev service, and 20-30 crew short for hotel/room stewards, mostly due to visa issues.  

 

It's not just Carnival, of course.  On a Certain Other Major Cruise Line's CC board, there's a current mention of shows being cancelled because the performers were not able to join...due to visa issues. 😞

 

[kleibo]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:47 PM, vacruizer said:

One other note, I looked forward to the Havana bar and Latin snacks. Half the bar was closed for the cruise and they were out of many ingredients for the menu drinks. Snacks are no longer served there. You could see where they once had live music there but no more. It was a little sad to see such a beautiful space not being used.  They were also not serving coffee in the mornings and later often didn’t know how to make the Cuban coffees there.

 

This is really disappointing to read and also to know no music either.  I have never been on the Sunshine and this area was one I was looking forward to.  😞

[Aplmac]

On 5/24/2022 at 10:42 PM, vacruizer said:

Dining - food is always subjective. I should also add that I have some background in hospitality and restaurants and might notice things differently than others. You might love something I hate.
 

We had dinner in the steakhouse night 1 and it was amazing. Lots of new menu items since my last Carnival sailing.  We had a great waitress but obvious they are stretched thin and running hard to keep up  Little things like not clearing plates, no butter with bread, crumbs everywhere… the theme here is no one has time. 
 

We ate at JiJi one night and LOVED the food. We also had probably the best service of all our meals there. 
 

We ate two dinners and two sea day brunches in the main dining room and had anytime dining for dinner. The first elegant night was a mess. Food was nearly inedible, cold, dry like it had been under a heat lamp for a while….all tossed on the table with no waiter to ever return. I ordered a glass of wine and got the wrong one. Couldn’t even flag down a waiter. We were seated right by the kitchen door and these folks are working HARD.  One gentleman was limping and still hauling heavy trays. Dirty dishes piled up on the service station next to us. I truly feel bad for these guys.  I know they don’t want to provide that kind of service, but can’t help it. 
 

Our other dinner was much better and the two brunches weren’t bad. It wasn’t the Carnival I remember but adequate. All the waitstaff is rushed. And tired. Notice a theme here?

 

Guys burgers was good although the fries have changed to standard frozen ones. Pizza still great but hours reduced to 10am-3am. Had great pasta for lunch at Cucina but a 30 minute wait for it. They are now closed for dinner due to the staffing issues. Blue Iguana is still fantastic and rarely had much line. The main buffet looked ok but the only time I grabbed a few items they had been sitting there too long. Ice cream mix seems to have changed and tasted very artificial. My only cruise I never ate a full ice cream cone!

 

We rolled with all of this and never went hungry. Our biggest issue was lack of anyone cleaning tables. I hoped for better considering all the Covid protocols. Sometimes dishes sat for hours. We watched dining tables be reset without being cleaned in the main dining room.  When they were cleared, tables were not wiped. I’m not at all a germaphobe, but almost wished I had some wipes with me. Yuck.

 

THIS is Cost-cutting Run Amok!!

Something I've been griping about (product-wise) for years now.

 

When you've cut all the corners you possibly can,

right down to the bone, and you finally have

the inferior product you deserve (but your customers don't)...

whatcha gonna do next? Call Ghost Busters?

 

Where do you go from here?

Oh sure you've saved a few bucks along the way

but you now have a crap product on your hands.

Where do you go from here?

You have NOT beat inflation (like you thought you were)

and you now have a crap product to deal with!!

Quite frankly, after reading this, this Carnival fan-boy

is disinclined to choose my favourite cruise line again!
I haven't cruised since April 2015 (7 yrs. now)

and the differences will be obvious, I fear.

It would grind my butt

to watch obvious intentional understaffing on a constant basis!

 

This is a matter that affects my conscience.

This is getting close to human rights abuse

and it is disconcerting. Enough said.

[Drazil65]

Our biggest issue was lack of anyone cleaning tables. I hoped for better considering all the Covid protocols. Sometimes dishes sat for hours. We watched dining tables be reset without being cleaned in the main dining room.  When they were cleared, tables were not wiped.

 

We were on the week after you I think, noticed the dirty dishes as well but mostly in the marketplace area.  Service was slower in dinning room (YTD) but manageable (we ate a couple of times in dinning room) and opted to eat elsewhere to catch some of the shows earlier in evening.  Saw most of the comedy (one show was very funny the other so-so).  Was also sad not to see music in Red Frog or Havana bars, also, one of the bartenders in RF told us that several people seemed to be mean spirited and very impatient on our cruise that week.  He said they have all been working extra hours and doing the best they can (mostly with a smile) but people were just being rude in many instances. 

 

Its that is too bad that people on vacation need to be rude to staff when its common knowledge that things are short staffed.   Things are different now and no one should be going on a cruise with pre covid expectations.  

[Aplmac]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:47 PM, vacruizer said:

I saw one young bartender cry at one point.

They all look exhausted. Outside the venues I mentioned, it was a sling drinks as fast as you can and the heck with quality..they didn’t have time.

One told me he had worked a 17 hour day.

Another said he was being asked to extend his contract

and shorten vacation.

Two more said last contract -and they won’t be back.

This staff shortage is killing them. They are tired and stressed.

I actually poured out several pool bar drinks they were so bad

- I was glad I had cheers. This was an packed cruise with lots of college graduation parties so the bars were slammed on top of being short staffed. Having been a bartender myself it was hard for me to watch them struggle so much.

Dirty glasses piled up, Bars not wiped down,

recipes not followed, wrong drinks served…

many seemed defeated and were beyond caring about customer service. They were too busy to provide it even if they wanted to.

 

SEE what I mean? This is not good.

[BlerkOne]

Carnival Destiny was always kind of a leaky ship and it sometimes continues with Sunshine, it seems.

 

I suspect a number of crew shortages are due to quarantine.

[cruisingguy007]

On 5/25/2022 at 6:14 AM, ninjacat123 said:

I'm scheduled to cruise on Ecstacy (every time I say that I think it sounds bad😜) this Saturday so I'll be able to check out the staffing situation there.

 

Well, I was reading a lady's review in a different sub forum here since her itinerary is one I'd like to do and she kept using BBC in reference to some type of drink and I googled it 😳. Urban dictionary is usually very helpful. Lets just say there is more than one meaning for BBC and I found the rest of the review hilarious as I read it 🤣. I did find the drink reference too eventually. 

Edited June 7, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[ninjacat123]

21 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Well, I was reading a lady's review in a different sub forum here since her itinerary is one I'd like to do and she kept using BBC in reference to some type of drink and I googled it 😳. Urban dictionary is usually very helpful. Lets just say there is more than one meaning for BBC and I found the rest of the review hilarious as I read it 🤣. I did find the drink reference too eventually. 

I will have to google BBC 😉 I felt the ship's staff was doing their best to maintain good service and positive attitudes even though I could tell they were being stretched thin.  Our cruise was sailing at 100% and I could tell there was not enough staff.  But I was amazed at the promptness of dirty dish pick up in Lido and when I would put dishes outside of my stateroom door.  My DDs did hear a number of passengers that would be very polite to us then say to waitstaff "I'll have another" without a please or thank you.  Here's my review:

 

[Guest BasicSailor]

Sunshine cruisers, say hello to Andre Williams for us if you see him 🤣