Carnival Sunshine - A great idea, poorly executed

Let me state from the start that this is not going to be like our other reviews. I will not be posting scads of pics and going into depth as to what we did each and every day. I really just wanted to get my thoughts out there. I was not planning on posting anything but after 7 days on the Sunshine I felt like it would be warranted. Please feel free to ask questions and I will answer them when I can.

Cass and I joined several friends in NOLA a few days before the trip. It was our first time there and we stayed at the Hyatt French Quarter. The hotel was nice, but expensive. We loved the location being a block from Bourban. Bourban Street reminded me of South Beach (without the beach). A ton of bars all with their specials. It's pretty much a drunk fest and while I do like to drink, I hate dealing with drunks.

It rained all day Saturday so we met up at Pat O'Brian's and then headed across the street for a drink at Spirits. Spirits turned out to be a dueling piano bar and the main player, Dan Brady, kept us there for 5 hours. He is the kind of PBE that Carnival needs to get on ships. He was fun, engaging, and a good player/singer. There's nothing like hearing Alice at 6 in the evening. Especially since Gary Pickus was above playing such things. But more on that later.

Embarkation was one of the quickest and easiest that we've had. We had a lazy morning and didn't leave for the port until about 10:15. They had already started boarding when we arrived at 10:30. We were on the ship and in our room by 11. I love getting on the ship early as it seems like a full extra day.

The ship is beautiful. Aesthetically, by far one of the best in the fleet. I loved the atrium. I guess too much as Cass told me I needed to stop taking pictures of the damn sun in the lobby because there were about 40 midway through the cruise :o

We did an inside cabin after liking it on the Victory. On the Victory, it was the quietist room we've ever had. I was amazed to walk in and find no table, no chair, not even a damn nightstand. Seriously???

The room didn't seem any smaller and there was certainly room for a table and chair. I've never seen a room that didn't have at least a nightstand.

Let me state from the start that this is not going to be like our other reviews. I will not be posting scads of pics and going into depth as to what we did each and every day. I really just wanted to get my thoughts out there. I was not planning on posting anything but after 7 days on the Sunshine I felt like it would be warranted. Please feel free to ask questions and I will answer them when I can.

 

Cass and I joined several friends in NOLA a few days before the trip. It was our first time there and we stayed at the Hyatt French Quarter. The hotel was nice, but expensive. We loved the location being a block from Bourban. Bourban Street reminded me of South Beach (without the beach). A ton of bars all with their specials. It's pretty much a drunk fest and while I do like to drink, I hate dealing with drunks.

 

It rained all day Saturday so we met up at Pat O'Brian's and then headed across the street for a drink at Spirits. Spirits turned out to be a dueling piano bar and the main player, Dan Brady, kept us there for 5 hours. He is the kind of PBE that Carnival needs to get on ships. He was fun, engaging, and a good player/singer. There's nothing like hearing Alice at 6 in the evening. Especially since Gary Pickus was above playing such things. But more on that later.

 

Embarkation was one of the quickest and easiest that we've had. We had a lazy morning and didn't leave for the port until about 10:15. They had already started boarding when we arrived at 10:30. We were on the ship and in our room by 11. I love getting on the ship early as it seems like a full extra day.

 

The ship is beautiful. Aesthetically, by far one of the best in the fleet. I loved the atrium. I guess too much as Cass told me I needed to stop taking pictures of the damn sun in the lobby because there were about 40 midway through the cruise :o

 

 

We did an inside cabin after liking it on the Victory. On the Victory, it was the quietist room we've ever had. I was amazed to walk in and find no table, no chair, not even a damn nightstand. Seriously???

 

 

The room didn't seem any smaller and there was certainly room for a table and chair. I've never seen a room that didn't have at least a nightstand.

Surprised no nightstand. Never seen one without that

Did cabin have desk with stool?

We both loved a lot of the new additions for the Sunshine. The lido area had all the 2.0 upgrades and was the same layout as both the Liberty and Breeze. However the stairs leading from Lido to Serenity were designed by an idiot. The stairs make an X. You have to walk up the sides, then converge in the middle, then back to the sides to get up to the Serenity area. Unless you wanted to walk through the hot tubs, and who wouldn't??? The design on the Liberty is perfect, just walk up the sides.

The Serenity area on this ship is both huge and beautiful.

It's basically 2 and a half decks. Even when it was crowded, we were able to find a spot to relax (albeit not in the sun). By far the best Serenity on any ship and I hope the trend of larger areas continues.

Just be sure to bring your earplugs or headphones. The noise from the big screen was present unless you were near the back of the top deck. I always do so it wasn't a big deal for me but I'm sure it'd be an issue for many others.

Dont understand a noisy serenity deck. On the Liberty they always played canned music.

Like it nice and quiet to lay out and read

Surprised no nightstand. Never seen one without that

 

Did cabin have desk with stool?

Yes, there was a very small deskish area with the stool. We also only had about 2 closets so I hung up a few dress shirts and lived out of my suitcase for a week.

I've been looking foward to your thoughts on the Sunshine, your reviews always seem to be honest. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Nice start Chris!:)

Hope you asked Dan Brady if he ever plays on ships!:cool:

Dont understand a noisy serenity deck. On the Liberty they always played canned music.

 

Like it nice and quiet to lay out and read

Agreed. We honestly didn't spend much time up there. The weather was only nice on port days. Our first sea day coming back from Jamaica was rainy the whole day. The first and last sea days were too cool for laying out (at least for us).

SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to see another Chris and Cass review!!!!:D:D

We were on the same cruise as you. Looking forward to your thoughts. I am not good at reviews but here is my thread with a few of my thoughts.

My biggest complaint was I got bored. Not much to do unless you like trivia or want to pay to play Bingo.

My 2nd biggest issue was the night they cancelled the show due to weather. Ok. I understand that. But then the only added entertainment was Bingo. Really? They couldn't come up with something more.....

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1961619

We had all planned to meet aft for sail away. That was quickly eliminated when we saw that the aft of the ship was comprised of the Water Works area. While I like having this area for kids, this is a horrible spot for it. There was really no good place for sail away. We were fortunate to find a little nook on the top deck of serenity off to the side that you could get good pictures from (it also had a rail so we could set our drinks down). Sail away was nice, but cool.

It was fun leaving from a new port and getting to sail down the Mississippi. Didn't suck that we had cell service most of the night.

 

My 2nd biggest issue was the night they cancelled the show due to weather. Ok. I understand that. But then the only added entertainment was Bingo. Really? They couldn't come up with something more.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1961619

Surprised they didnt come up with something else.

A few cruises ago the flyon missed the ship for some reason so the entertainment staff did an impromptu show which was rather good.

Either the weather was really bad, entertainment staff was real lazy or just a lack of talent.

Can I ask you a question? How come no Victory review? Are you guys tired of doing those long reviews? Just curious......:o:o Have LOVED all of your reviews in the past, however, I know it's a TON of work. Thank you for this one......

Wow, wonderful review so far. I definitely agree with your title. There are many good things about the ship but the revitalization could have been executed better to prevent some of the issues/problems.

I'm interested to read the rest of your review. Thanks for sharing.

We had all planned to meet aft for sail away. That was quickly eliminated when we saw that the aft of the ship was comprised of the Water Works area. While I like having this area for kids, this is a horrible spot for it. There was really no good place for sail away. We were fortunate to find a little nook on the top deck of serenity off to the side that you could get good pictures from (it also had a rail so we could set our drinks down). Sail away was nice, but cool.

 

It was fun leaving from a new port and getting to sail down the Mississippi. Didn't suck that we had cell service most of the night.

 

 

Funny. We did the same thing. That is our favorite spot to hang out for a few hous for sail away. We were surprised to see it was so crowded with water slides, rope course, foosball, basketball, etc.... We had to find a new place and it wasn't nearly as good.

We are big fans of ships on a stick and like to collect 2 from each ship. This being a new ship we knew we needed to get on the ball and try to knock them out early. We showed up for the first trivia on Monday and Lexi informed us that they hadn't gotten a shipment of ships on a stick for about 2 weeks. :eek:

Way to go Carnival!!! You're 'newest' ship sailing 2 of her biggest sailings of the year, and you don't have any Sunshine ships on a stick. And haven't for the 2 previous weeks as well??? I feel bad for the entertainment staff who have to deal with the brunt of this when it's completely out of their control but someone obviously dropped the ball. Since there was nothing to really play for we decided to hit the gym.

I will say this, the layout of the gym was about the same floor space but seemed much larger. There were more treadmills and ellipticals than any gym I've seen. The free weight area seemed condensed so maybe that had something to do with it. We ended up going to the gym 3 times and it was always crowded.

What was your cabin #?

Can I ask you a question? How come no Victory review? Are you guys tired of doing those long reviews? Just curious......:o:o Have LOVED all of your reviews in the past, however, I know it's a TON of work. Thank you for this one......

First off, thank you. And yes, that's the gist of it. This one will be much shorter than our others as well. Just want to hit bullet points. It's hard to get back into the swing of things when gone for 9+ days. There's a ton of catching up to do and adding the time it takes for a review just compounds all of that. It generally takes us 3-4 hours to do one day of a review. I will say that we had a fantastic time on the Victory but we also cruised with a huge group so that had a big hand in it. Liked Piano Bar Bob, but really missed Joe Hollywood.

What was your cabin #?

7321, 2nd to last inside aft.

I will say that we loved the location of our cabin. We were 2 floors from the Lido and 2 from Prominade. Very convenient for quick runs to get something.

This is going to be a vent post so bare with me. My biggest complaint on this ship was the layout. I'm going to do my best to get this all in one post, but there's a lot to bitch about.

I've already mentioned the stairs up to Serenity and no good aft area for sail away. I guess I'll start up and work my way down. I absolutely LOVED the Havana Bar area. Such a cool idea and the area looks great. Now only if people knew about it. Why on earth they decided to put the hostess' for Cucina and Ji Ji's right as you walk in (you literally have to walk around their desk to get to the Havana) is beyond me. The whole area looks like you need a reservation. I know it stopped many people from going back there.

Ji Ji's was nice but we didn't eat there. They had the Mongolian Wok there for lunch though. Prepare for a wait. I'd say it takes roughly 3 minutes per person so do the math when you get in line.

La Cucina was on the other side and while we didn't eat there for lunch (just so many great food choices on this ship) we did have dinner there and it was fantastic. Go hungry!!!

I was afraid the Lido buffet area would be a cluster ****. It was smaller than other buffet areas but it was one of the few things they got right. The design was better and allowed for a good flow of traffic. We never got breakfast there as the Taste Bar near the Ocean Plaza had some awesome ham and cheese croissants.

Guy's and Blue Iguana were excellent as always. The burgers seemed a bit smaller but less greasy which was fine with me.

And I just had a HOT project land in my lap so this will have to continue later this afternoon. I'll hit decks 5 and lower next.

What? No Ship on a Stick? Guess the SUN didn't SHINE on this cruise. Glad we booked Magic out of Galveston. Bon Voyage!

Cant wait to read the rest...we sail on the Sunshine Feb 16th

Hi, Chris. I was on this sailing too and had a great time. I didn't have a table or desk either, but did have a king-sized bed in my 1A upper/lower cabin which really surprised me.

I found Sunshine's slots to pay better than on any other ship I've been on. I loved the Serenity area, but agree with golfadj that it wasn't exactly serene.

Your pictures turned out really well.

OK, so deck 5 (Prominade). Honestly there isn't too much wrong with this one. You have your shops, the EA Sports Bar, Casino, Coffee Shop (with Shake Spot), Taste Bar, Ocean Plaza, and Alchemy Bar. I feel like I'm forgetting something though.......oh yeah, The Red Frog Pub. What a horrible location for this. The Red Frog Pub is off to the left of this pic.

The only walk way goes along the left side as you're walking aft. It would be unbelievably easy to just walk past the Pub. There is no other entrance. There were 3 on the Breeze plus the outdoor Lanai area. This was one of our favorite hangout places (until they started karaoke - because there's NO OTHER SPOT for karaoke). These poor bartenders hardly got any business the entire cruise. Linden was there from the Breeze and he was always ready to make us smile. Our new favorite bar server was Ediberto. He served us in the MDR and worked days at the Pub. Such a great guy and always had a smile.

Deck 3 is what it is. Atrium and Guest Service stuff then the middle dinning room.

Deck 4...oh deck 4 you tricky minx. Unless you wanted to walk through the joke of a comedy lounge, the only way to get to anything was from the middle stairs (or you could walk forward to double back but what a pain in the ass). Meaning you had to walk through the wall of smokers at the casino bar. And I am by no means blaming them because that was the ONLY spot for smoking inside the ship (and close to the only spot outside as well). Down here is the Library Bar, Piano Bar, Steakhouse, Sushi, and Comedy.

The Piano Bar is small and just seemed weird (and I'm just realizing I don't even have a picture of it). The piano bar itself is situated lower than any other I've ever seen. There are no bar stools, but chairs around the piano. The area is smaller with the piano right in the middle. I don't get this at all. 25% of the crowd was staring at his back the entire time. Why not move the piano into a corner so everyone had a shot of him? The place was usually pretty crowded. I can't quite put a finger on it but something about Gary Pickus (our PBE) didn't jive with me. He's not a bad player or singer, he seems to involve the crowd but I just got a vibe of arrogance or cockiness that turned me off. No Alice and no Lu-Lu certainly didn't help.