Review of Carnival Sunshine, 2/7/15

Let me start by saying this is the 4th cruise I have been on and the 3rd cruise line. I have sailed twice w/RCCL and once w/NCL. I was leery of going on Carnival because I had always heard they were "party ships." However, this went to the ports we wanted so we booked anyway. IMHO, Carnival lives up to its stereotype of "party ships.":(:(

I booked this cruise in November 2013 for our son's senior trip. He had his choice between the Sunshine and the Liberty; he chose the Sunshine because of the ports of call.

I had booked the early dining 6pm seating as I do not care for anytime dining. I do like that Carnival gives you a choice because NCL does not. I like to have the same waiter every night who knows me and we establish a rapport. I like to greet them when I see them in other areas of the ship.

Our group consisted of me, my husband, our 17 year old son, my 79 year old parents, and our best friends. We originally all booked on Deck 10 as we wanted to be able to use the spa. We booked spa suite 10107 but soon realized there was no roof to the balcony and it did not have a separate bedroom (we had seen a video on youtube.com of suite 12002 so presumed, incorrectly, that 10107 was the same layout). I watched the website and about 2 months before we set sail, suite 12001 became available. We booked that for an extra $300 but everyone else stayed on deck 10.

My husband decided a few months ahead of time that he wanted to fly to Melbourne instead of driving to Port Canaveral. He flew out of Greenville/Spartanburg and the rest of us flew from Charlotte, NC (he had enough points to fly from GSP, we did not). We met him in Atlanta and flew to Melbourne. I cannot understand how it was cheaper to fly from Charlotte than it was Atlanta (when we had a connecting flight in Atlanta), but it was. We used Delta and had no problems; both flights were smooth.

We stayed at an Econolodge on Fri., 2/6, as they provided free parking and free shuttle service. Rooms were about $75 for the night, taxes included. You get what you pay for but it was adequate for the one night.

More to come later....

Great intro so far! I hope you enjoyed your cruise. I sail in 10 days in the same room you stayed in! I've heard about some issues with the room, the elevators that go to the 12th floor, and the spa overall. If you have time in your review, I would be forever grateful if you had some comments!

On our last cruise out of Port Canaveral (from Indiana), we too flew into Melboure instead of Orlando( which we have always done.) It was perfect, we'll never go back to Orlando. Loved the small airport. Car rental was cheaper and we're at our hotel in less than a half hour.....AND NO TRAFFIC! I hope you had as an enjoyable experience.

Love you cruise introduction and can't wait for more! Thank you for your review!!!!

Following along with interest....we leave on Sunshine next Saturday!

Following along with interest....we leave on Sunshine next Saturday!

People on our sailing keep popping up all over the place lol

Hi Gamecock411.... we were your neighbors... cabin 12005

We leave 3-7 and we are in a spa balcony on deck 12. Did you feel the movement of the ship? If so was it real bad?

The movement was pretty rough a few nights. Our closet doors were banging from one side to the other and we had to get maintenance up to get them fixed. They were there very quickly and got the job done. However, we do not get seasick so it didn't make us queasy, just uneasy.

I really enjoyed the suite. Plenty of room, more than enough closets (one in the bedroom and 2 in the dressing area), carpet was badly stained but I wore my slippers.

There are only 2 elevators that go to this deck; however, we did not find this to be a problem as we both work out. We just went to 10 on the elevator and then took the stairs. Sometimes we would do the steps instead of the elevators anyway.

Hi Gamecock411.... we were your neighbors... cabin 12005

Hope you enjoyed the cruise! It was pretty rocky but we loved the ports of call.

So, we get settled at the Econolodge and take the 4a.m. shuttle to Charlotte Airport. Here's where we almost end in a fight w/a stranger and I almost throttle my son!!

We did the curbside check in at the airport as our eyes were barely open and I was NOT lugging all that luggage inside. My dad uses a walker so he could not help w/the bags. My son and I go inside to wait on everyone else. I see a lady (a little rough around the edges) head outside to have a smoke. She and my mom exchange words. I find out that my mom (who is very independent at 79 years old) was reaching for her carryon when the woman offered to get it for her. My mom told her, "That's OK; I've got it." To which the woman responded, "I'm not a criminal, you know!" My mom was flabbergasted and politely told her that never entered her mind. Great, mom, get us into a fight before we even check in!!

Now, everyone has checked in their luggage and we've all gone through screening. They pull out my son's backpack and begin to search it. She asked me if he had anything sharp in his backpack. I replied probably pencils because he had schoolwork to do. She proceeds to swipe a cloth in his backpack and put it through a scanner. She then reaches into the next pocket and pulls out an entire GALLON BAG of brand new sunscreen and aloe jelly. I had given it to him before we left home to put in his "luggage." I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh no you didn't." His reply? You said my luggage, you didn't say which one. AARRGGGH! They all chuckled and said, "I guess you don't travel much do you, son?" I told him when we got to Melbourne, he was buying me some sunscreen!!

We are on the Sunshine in August.

Love your review so far, love the personal touch stories...

Loving this review so far! We cruise on the sunshine in 50 more days and also staying in a spa cabin. We've done this in the past on the Breeze and loved the quietness of the spa decks..Anxious to hear the rest of your review!

Enjoying your review. Btw, we are in Greenville! Thank you for the reminder that Melbourne is an option.

Thanks for all the positive comments!

FlorenceItaly, did you get any snow Wed? We got nothing in Anderson.

Moving right along, we arrived in Melbourne with no problems. Our flight arrived around 11 a.m. I had booked the Melbourne Airport Express after some extensive research. They were $109/each way and there were 7 of us. We had to pay for the return trip also when we arrived at the airport. They were very easy to find and our driver was wonderful. Gave us a short history lesson on the way (I Dream of Jeannie park, Air Force One decoy, etc). He also allowed us to stop at a drugstore so my son could purchase some suntan lotion for me. He hated to crack open his wallet.

We arrived at the pier with no problems and would highly recommend Melbourne Airport Express.

The line was very long when we arrived around noon. We had priority boarding because we had a suite and this was very quick. However, I found out we had been assigned anytime dining which I do not like. Considering I had booked this cruise 15 months ahead of time, I wasn't too happy about this. But we got right on the ship. My dad uses a walker so he got to go through special assistance line which was very quick. It's a very long walk from check-in to the ship but he made it. We went to our cabin and dropped off our carry on luggage. Loved the spaciousness of the suite.

We headed to the Lido deck for Guy's Burgers. Yum! Very good. However, I went up to Deck 10 and set my food on a lounger, turned around to grab another chair, turned back around and the seagulls were helping themselves to my food!!! People around me were laughing and said the seagulls had been watching me just waiting. So back down to deck 9 to get another plate. We never stood in any real line for Guy's Burgers and had them several times.

We had to go stand in line at the Sunset dining room to get switched back to the early seating. They had switched all 7 of us to anytime dining. Carnival was very accommodating but asked us to wait until the next night to eat in the dining room.

Headed to our muster drill which was in the Liquid Lounge. Do they really think I'm going to head to the Liquid Lounge if the ship is sinking??? They had us go outside after the drill to look at our lifeboats and we were already moving so we missed some of the sail away.

Dinner was uneventful (finally, something was uneventful), and we headed to bed early.

Our son joined up with the O2 club that night. This was his 4th cruise and he has NEVER gone to the kid's programs. This time he did and said it was his best cruise ever.

Enjoying your review--Thanks!!!

We only got a few inches....enjoying the review! We are leaving this morning for Jacksonville, cruising out tomorrow. I will catch up with you when we return.

Sunday was a beautiful day. We didn't do much that day except lounge in the sun. If you are hoping to get a chair on the Serenity decks, think again. The people on this cruise were major chair hogs and I only got a chair once when we were actually in port in Curacao. Besides, it's not Serene in my opinion. As most of you know, it overlooks the Lido/pool deck so it was not quiet. The quietest place I found to lay out in the sun was behind the water slides. But it's very hard to find chairs anywhere on this ship.

Sunday was the first formal night which I love (my husband and son-not so much). But I reminded my son that if I'm paying for the cruise, he can dress up for 2 nights. When he pays for his own fare, he can dress how he wants!! We went to the MDR for our 6pm seating and met our waitstaff (table 592) Francisco, Gerry and Nono. They were awesome every single night. And the Maitre'd Amith was the friendliest one I have ever met. Usually I find they only come around the last night to get their tip. But he came around each night and was very personable. Our waitstaff greeted us by name everywhere they saw us on the ship. Now, I know their jobs require long hours and tremendous stress, but these guys were always smiling. Francisco danced with my mom and I could tell it tickled her.

After dinner, our son headed to the O2 club where he won the "Dress to Impress" award. We headed to the Spa which was the quietest place on the ship. We truly enjoyed the spa and got our money's worth. Some in our party got extra services (detox, pedicure) but I did not. However, the ladies who work in the spa area were so friendly. We spent time just talking with them and finding out where they were from. They said not many people spend time talking w/them and they truly enjoyed it as did we. My favorite were the thermal loungers. I was so relaxed by the time we got back to our cabin, I was fast asleep in no time!! Make sure you get the water back in the "relaxation room." It's brought up from room service and has lemons in one and oranges in another. Best water on the ship. Anytime I wanted water, that's where I headed.

I will try and attach some pictures later (I'm not too computer savvy but I'm sure my son can figure it out).

Enjoying your review! Did you get a picture of Fransisco, by any chance? We had a Fransisco on the Dream when it was out of Port Canaveral. We just LOVED him!!

I did get a picture of him and will try to upload it later. I think he was from India or Indonesia. He had 2 more weeks to go and then home to wife and a 5 year old son.

Monday was another sea day with no chairs available on the Serenity Decks.

Tuesday we docked in Aruba; got mom and dad settled on their island tour; walked around a little and shopped. We headed back to the ship for our horseback riding tour with Rancho Ponderosa. What fun!! Best shore excursion we've ever done. They picked us up right on time in a marked van so we had no problem hooking up. We stopped at a hotel to pick up a family of 4 and headed to the ranch.

One of our guides was named Obama (we got a kick out of that). They took such good care of us. They really watched you and made sure everything was OK. They called us by our horse's name which was funny. They gave us a lesson and then matched us up with a horse. My son had never been on a horse but had no problem.

We stopped about halfway and got off our horses at the Gold Mine Ruins. We were able to gallop on the beach with the horses which was a blast! The horses are very well trained; we went through cactus fields, and stopped at a high point on the island where you could see the ocean in front of you and the ship behind you. It was beautiful. The natural bridge was amazing. When we got back, they gave us a free beverage and got us back to our ship w/plenty of time. I would highly recommend this shore excursion.

Sorry I haven't been writing for a few days. Got hit w/a bad case of the flu.

Thanks for taking time to do your review & hope you are feeling better. Will be following along.

Enjoying your review. We were on the Liberty in January and saw the Sunshine. Holds a special place in my heart because she was our lst CCL cruise when she had her maiden name of Destiny. :) Hope you feel better!

Hello everyone we are looking forward to sailing on the Sunshine but am very concerned about the poor reviews . We are not experienced cruisers so maybe it will be ok. Hope we meet some great people during our cruise. We are flying to Philadelphia before cruise and then after a few days flying down to Orlando.after cruise we have a week in Kissimmee before flying back to Orlando. We are both celebrating special birthdays and have planned this for ages just hope it all works well.

Any cruise is what you make of it. Don't worry about the bad reviews..I'm sure you can find some good ones too. Epic Rock is the best Playlist show I've seen!

Hello everyone we are looking forward to sailing on the Sunshine but am very concerned about the poor reviews . We are not experienced cruisers so maybe it will be ok. Hope we meet some great people during our cruise. We are flying to Philadelphia before cruise and then after a few days flying down to Orlando.after cruise we have a week in Kissimmee before flying back to Orlando. We are both celebrating special birthdays and have planned this for ages just hope it all works well.

Take reviews with a grain of salt. I LOVE reading them and seeing the pictures and "going along" with the poster, but people and vacations are so vastly different that you can't worry about some things. If it is a ship I have never been on and am booked, I take note of the good and bad and kind of keep my eye out lol. We were on the Liberty last month. A B2B, 8 days each, so we were on the ship for 16 days. For weeks before all I read about was the vibrations and how the ship didn't handle itself well at sea. In 16 days we never felt a thing...all that worrying about nothing :(:confused: That is not to say that the previous trips didn't have a problem, but for some reason, WE didn't...also our 2 cruises were COMPLETELY different. Obviously different pax, but food was the same, entertainment was the same, crew were the same, but the 2nd week was a completely different experience from the lst. BOTH GOOD BTW! :) So just read these reviews as a form of entertainment, some good information to know, and to help build up the excitement for YOUR cruise! Half the fun is planning and anticipation!