Appreciate feedback on Carnival Sunshine experience

[wildcats40]

We are considering doing a short cruise on the Sunshine from Charleston with family (60 year olds and 20 year olds).  We cruise about once a year but normally on Celebrity or Princess and are a little hesitant on what it will be like on Carnival.  I realize passengers will probably be younger which is fine but is it a big party atmosphere?  How is the food, entertainment, and activities?  We enjoy comedians, trivia, game shows, and so on.  Thanks!

[Essiesmom]

At the top left of the Carnival page you will See posts about:  and Select ship with an arrow down.  Click on that and you get a dropdown menu of carnival ships.  Select Sunshine and you will get a page or two of threads that mention Sunshine.

 

[jsglow]

No one can really properly answer that for you @wildcats40. I've sailed some of the nicest Princess ships and I've also sailed Sunshine. I've enjoyed both. Will you? Impossible to know.  If you do decide to go please do so with an 'open mind'. The best way to have a lousy time is to expect to have a lousy time if you know what I mean.

[wildcats40]

I agree, jsglow.  Attitude means a lot.  I've just read some negative reviews so am taking that into consideration.  We've never had a bad cruise...just some are more to our style than others.  Thanks.

[jsglow]

And truth be told, most of the crazy stories you hear are hyperbole. Yes, they can happen. But they are rare.

[volfan22701]

We have cruised Sunshine 7 times over the last 10 years or so and she is definately one of our favorites. we have 3 more cruises on her booked over the next 2 years. the layout is not bad, plenty of food choices and deck space. adult decks are nice. in the evening there is a nice area near the bars with a band and dance floor as well as several other places to listen to music. we always pick one of the 8 day trips to go on. we have one in April out of Charleston and then 2 next year from Norfolk.

[bar1068]

We've cruised on Sunshine 6 times, including the 15 day Transatlantic cruise after the conversion from Destiny to Sunshine, then 5 months later an 11 day repositioning cruise from New Orleans...to Port Canaveral.....of the 6 cruise we've taken on Sunshine, none have been fewer than 8 days!! When Sunshine was first sailing, she had the most varied food options of any other ship at the time Carnival was sailing, all of which has changed with the Vista and Excel class ships, but we loved our sailings on Carninal...oh yea...my wife and I are both 60 plus!!!

[jsglow]

I haven't been on her since before the pandemic. I wouldn't be upset at all if she got re-located to a port I'm more likely to sail from. Back in the day she was the 'east coast rover' and we caught her out of Port Canaveral if memory serves. That said, she and Spirit are now fulfilling valuable 'local' markets.

[Carnival_Cruise_Lover]

Just sailed the Sunshine Dec 18-23, 2023. This was our 10th Carnival cruise. Would have to rate it as the worst of all our experiences. The ship is not as decorative as other ships we have been on. Very plain in comparison. Granted it is one if their oldest ships but the remodel didn't seem to add any luster to it. The Lido buffet lines are awkwardly layed out and the aft dining room is strangely located making going to dinner each night an adventure in itself. The port at Chatleston is even weirder. Very old building and having to be shuttled between check in building and security building was odd compared to other terminals. Granted we enjoyed our cruise as always but the ship was not as impressive as the other nine we have experienced. 

[MistyRo76]

We sailed on the Sunshine this past October. It was myself and my husband (both in our late 40's) and our 9-year-old daughter. We sailed during many areas' fall break from school...so the ship was very full and there were alot of kids. If you are sailing off-season and not during traditional school breaks, you may not see as many kids on your sailing. 

 

Overall, we liked the Sunshine very much. It was our first time sailing from Charleston and we loved it. The port area is different than any other I've sailed. But everything seemed very organized and moved quickly! When you get off the ship, you'll have to take a coach bus to the parking area. The line for the coach took about 15 minutes. But that was the worst park of debarking. We loved seeing all of the dolphins in the harbor playing around the ship! They were everywhere! 

 

The ship itself was very nice! We had a forward balcony cabin on Deck 7. It was well located and near most everything! We had late assigned dining and enjoyed dinner in the main dining room 4 of the 5 nights of our cruise. One night, my husband and I enjoyed dinner together at JiJi Asian Kitchen. Highly recommend reserving a table at JiJi's. It was easily our best meal of the cruise! But the rest of our food was all good to above average. We also felt that dinner moved along at a good pace in the dining room! Most nights we were out of there in 60-75 minutes. 

 

We didn't take part in alot of the ship's entertainment. I saw one of the theater shows and it was just OK for me. We did go to the Deal or No Deal game show which was alot of fun! You can also buy a card and play along for the chance to win prizes. We won a free entry to Jackpot Bingo which we also did. We typically would take in some comedy but didn't this time - but overall the comedy shows are a personal preference and can me hit or miss for me. 

Our ports were Half Moon Cay and Nassau. Nassau isn't my favorite port and I would normally stay on the ship here. But the kiddo wanted to go to the beach so we walked to the "free" beach - Junkanoo Beach. I put free in quotes cause it's free if you throw a towel down and sit on the sand. Two chairs and an umbrella cost us $40 and a basic lunch cost us $60. Everything is ala carte and it's very crowded here. I find the Bahamas to be very expensive overall. 

 

Half Moon Cay is an amazing port! If they are available for your sailing, I would highly recommend getting a cabana! We shared one with the other family we were traveling with and it was well worth the money. But there's tons to do here and the beach is simply beautiful! Lunch is provided here, but you have pay for drinks separately. 

 

[Drazil65]

We tend to favor the bigger, newer CCL ships with the Sunshine being the exception.  We love the Sunshine and Charleston.  Charleston itself is a great city to visit whether you are cruising or not and since its a little over 3 hr drive from home its an easy port for us (we have another cruise scheduled on Sunshine end of this year and will miss her being in Charleston for sure).   

 

Sunshine has one of the best serenity areas (adult only area) of the fleet IMHO and being a midsize ship there are plenty of venues for things to do.  Someone mentioned the shuttle at debarkation back to the port parking but we walk with our luggage to our car, its easy and quicker than the whole shuttle thing (for us anyway).  

 

We have also sailed on RCCL occasionally in addition to CCL but we by far choose CCL and are rarely disappointed with our choice.  Its a fun time every time but a lot of that is attitude and seeing the positive of being able to cruise as often as we do and appreciating that fact. 

 

Have a blast and enjoy!