Just back from the Sunshine, and loved it! Ask me anything!

We just got back from an 8 day cruise on the Sunshine - visiting Curaçao, Aruba and Grand Turk. I didn't gather specific info to do a review but am happy to answer some questions. We were torn on what to expect because folks either love it, or hate it. We loved it!! Ask away!

What type of room did you have?

How was the ropes course?

What specialty restaurants did you eat at

What type of room did you have?

How was the ropes course?

What specialty restaurants did you eat at

We were in 7326, an aft balcony. The location was perfect, while we had friends on deck 6 FWD who complained of noise from the Liquid Lounge. We had a great view and the room was great.

Didn't do the ropes course or take advantage of anything in the Sports Square as it was overrun with kids. Like, an insane amount of animals. :p

Hit submit before I finished...

We didn't eat at any specialty restaurant on this trip. We cruised as part of the Esther group, and took advantage of vegan meals prepared for the group. We did get veggie burgers from Guy's Burgers, and a couple of burritos at the Blue Iguana. Both fantastic additions to the dining options!

One of my favorite parts of the Sunshine was the Red Frog Pub. It was a great place to catch up with our friends, to enjoy a beer during down time, and to take advantage of the games like Foosball. My only complaint is that they allow kids in there to play the games. They had 2 Foosball tables on the sports deck already, but they were always in there playing that and shuffleboard. Would love it if they made it 21 and up, but it was still great.

What type of room did you have?

How was the ropes course?

What specialty restaurants did you eat at

We went on the Sunshine last month...

The ropes course is a lot of fun. It is best to try it when you first get on board or during port days. They usually had it closed during sea days.

We ate at Jiji's and LOVED it. Worth the money.

I have to also share, we did the Trikes Aruba excursion and it was fantastic! They picked us up from Port at 830/9, took us to their location where we had a quick lesson, and then we broke off into two groups of 4-5 bikes in each. We toured the island, stopping at 5 different landmarks, where our guide would take our photos at each and provide us with an overview. We had people stopping us to ask about the trikes, the tour etc and everyone was wishing they had done it instead of what they did do! The guide had already posted all of the pics to Facebook later the same day too. All around, it was a great experience and we will even likely book it again. Our port time was 8-4 and they dropped us back off at Port around 1pm, which still allowed us plenty of time to grab lunch and check out the port shopping.

We went on the Sunshine last month...

 

 

The ropes course is a lot of fun. It is best to try it when you first get on board or during port days. They usually had it closed during sea days.

 

 

We ate at Jiji's and LOVED it. Worth the money.

I was ready to try it on day one too, but the wind was insane and if it wasn't closed, I wasn't about to try it anyway! Jiji's is the one place I wish we had tried!

Is anytime dining still a mess? Some nights we waited over an hour and it seemed like chaos.

Is anytime dining still a mess? Some nights we waited over an hour and it seemed like chaos.

We had assigned dining because of the group booking - however, we only ever saw 5-10 people in line waiting at the check in. I'm not positive what their experience was after check in. We did overhear one gentleman raising his voice at the employee because he had walked too far away and something happened that his pager didn't go off. We spent a lot of time in that general area, and that was the only complaint that I personally overheard.

This was also our first cruise where we visited the spa. We booked a couples massage for the second sea day. It was $249 plus gratuity, for 50 minutes. The massage was good, along with the overall experience from booking the appt (called on embarkation day and was able to get an 8am on sea day 2), to the massage and check out. They didn't attempt to sell me any products or constant upgrades outside of one initial offer to upgrade to the hot stone massage. The price is high compared to off ship massages, but for a special occasion or treat, I'd do it again.

Is anytime dining still a mess? Some nights we waited over an hour and it seemed like chaos.

Would like to know this also, tho I realize it depends on the week. We are doing Canada/NE in September. Not totally interested in it (:eek:) but Destiny was our very lst CCL cruise and we cruised her a few times, and our homeport is Manhattan (takes 20 minutes to get there!) and found out CCL is pulling out of here :evilsmile::mad: so we booked Destiny/Sunshine/Manhattan for old time's sake. Any tips or hints would be appreciated!

Would like to know this also, tho I realize it depends on the week. We are doing Canada/NE in September. Not totally interested in it (:eek:) but Destiny was our very lst CCL cruise and we cruised her a few times, and our homeport is Manhattan (takes 20 minutes to get there!) and found out CCL is pulling out of here :evilsmile::mad: so we booked Destiny/Sunshine/Manhattan for old time's sake. Any tips or hints would be appreciated!

I'd be curious to hear from someone who used it, but from my observation... It seemed like a non issue on this cruise. I wish we had it, as I like the flexibility - but we had assigned, due to the group booking.

Anytime was easy and we never had to wait. As soon as we got the ticket we headed down to the dining. Now, we would always eat around 6 every night.

Any issues getting lounge chairs by the pool or on the Serenity decks? We're sailing in 2 weeks and getting worried from reading some of the recent reviews. Thanks

We were on the same cruise and had YTD. Never had a wait at all. Check in deck 5 at Ocean Plaza/Taste Bar area, then down the elevators (right there) to deck 3, and there you are. No wait at all. My only complaint was the tables seemed to be packed together so tightly it was nearly impossible to move around, even for wait staff. I felt uncomfortable asking someone to rise from their seat while dining just so I could exit my table. Service seemed a little slower than usual, but again, that could be due to tables too close together. I never saw all the tables full at any given time, and with so many other dining options onboard, they could easily take out a few tables to make it a better experience for everyone.

As for the chair hogs? Out in full force, as usual. Never saw an open chair on the Serenity deck. Never. Folks were apparently putting down towels to hold them, then going off to do other things for hours at a time. I hope they start enforcing the 45-minute limit on all the ships, but they have not done so on the Sunshine yet.

Otherwise, it was a GREAT cruise! All the staff were extremely friendly and attentive. The Sunshine is now my favorite Carnival ship. :)

Any issues getting lounge chairs by the pool or on the Serenity decks? We're sailing in 2 weeks and getting worried from reading some of the recent reviews. Thanks

Agree with the previous post 100%! I'm not a huge Lido person - mostly because it's always just too packed, and this cruise was no different. We will typically pick one day where we will wake up super early and grab a clamshell on the serenity. This time, we were up on the serenity deck at 7:30am, and no joke... We took the last clamshell... The deck was already packed! The clamshell next to us has towels clipped onto the seats and we watched as no one came by to it for over an hour and a half (when we left). We also watched an older daughter save 3 loungers in front of us, and her mom and dad came by once - stayed about 5 min and left again within that same hour and a half. It's just insane. I would be willing to pay to reserve a lounger for the day, just so I could enjoy it more easily!

The good thing was that we had our aft balcony with a lounger so we just enjoyed that too!

We were on the same cruise and had YTD. Never had a wait at all. Check in deck 5 at Ocean Plaza/Taste Bar area, then down the elevators (right there) to deck 3, and there you are. No wait at all. My only complaint was the tables seemed to be packed together so tightly it was nearly impossible to move around, even for wait staff. I felt uncomfortable asking someone to rise from their seat while dining just so I could exit my table. Service seemed a little slower than usual, but again, that could be due to tables too close together. I never saw all the tables full at any given time, and with so many other dining options onboard, they could easily take out a few tables to make it a better experience for everyone.

 

As for the chair hogs? Out in full force, as usual. Never saw an open chair on the Serenity deck. Never. Folks were apparently putting down towels to hold them, then going off to do other things for hours at a time. I hope they start enforcing the 45-minute limit on all the ships, but they have not done so on the Sunshine yet.

 

Otherwise, it was a GREAT cruise! All the staff were extremely friendly and attentive. The Sunshine is now my favorite Carnival ship. :)

The Sunshine is now our favorite too! The staff were amazing! Danni and Valisha in the Red Frog, were so attentive and personable. Jay from LA was great, and Mason as the CD was also great. I also really enjoy watching Jackson the magician. I loved the workshops he did to teach tricks and thought he was super personable too. Oh, and the ladies at the coffee counter... Rocked. They knew our order every morning!

Agree with the previous post 100%! I'm not a huge Lido person - mostly because it's always just too packed, and this cruise was no different. We will typically pick one day where we will wake up super early and grab a clamshell on the serenity. This time, we were up on the serenity deck at 7:30am, and no joke... We took the last clamshell... The deck was already packed! The clamshell next to us has towels clipped onto the seats and we watched as no one came by to it for over an hour and a half (when we left). We also watched an older daughter save 3 loungers in front of us, and her mom and dad came by once - stayed about 5 min and left again within that same hour and a half. It's just insane. I would be willing to pay to reserve a lounger for the day, just so I could enjoy it more easily!

 

The good thing was that we had our aft balcony with a lounger so we just enjoyed that too!

Has anyone ever brought this to the attention of a pool attendant and had him/her take the towels off the "reserved chairs?" We noticed this a # of times on the Pride last year. We always get up early and have our "favorite chairs" by the pool and would sit....and then get breakfast and bring our plate to the chair and SIT. Right near us was a 2 couple party and one man (we called him the "designated reserver!") who came out EVERY SINGLE MORNING, put towels and books on the chairs about the same time we got there and did not come back for HOURS. Others must have noticed this because later in the cruise a few mornings someone would go to pool attendant and point this out and he would remove their stuff. It caused quite an "incident" one day. :eek: We were lucky we had our chairs, but if I was hunting around for one and noticed this day after day I would be furious. BTW, this was a 2 week Journey cruise, so it went on and on....:mad:

We are doing Canada/NE the end of September, so wonder if we will have the CHOG problems being as it will be a cruise in a different climate. :confused:

Glad the OP enjoyed their cruise. Sunshine is the first and only Carnival ship that we liked enough to book a second time (we sailed on her twice last year). We like that Sunshine is different from other Carnival ships. Jiji's alone is worth going. Wow, is that place amazing and the price is a steal! Love Havana Bar as well.

Thanks for taking time to answer questions. We are booked in a aft next March so are interested in your thoughts about your cabin. We have 7333. How was movement, noise and temperature on balcony. Our 1 st aft so really looking forward to this hope I am not disappointed in the balcony. (We love the ship) Am looking forward to avoiding crowds and using balcony.Thanks!

We were on this cruise too! My kids love Esther the Wonder Pig so they were so excited to see all the Esther supporters on the ship! One of the people in the Esther party even gave my daughter one of their "Peace. Love. Esther." bracelets :)

Thanks for taking time to answer questions. We are booked in a aft next March so are interested in your thoughts about your cabin. We have 7333. How was movement, noise and temperature on balcony. Our 1 st aft so really looking forward to this hope I am not disappointed in the balcony. (We love the ship) Am looking forward to avoiding crowds and using balcony.Thanks!

This was our first aft balcony as well and we were not disappointed. There are pros and cons, however. The view from the rear is fantastic. You seem to have a much wider view than from a side balcony (although that's probably just perspective, I don't know). I was a bit worried about "riding backwards", but that was never an issue. There is no breeze on an aft balcony and it can get HOT! Remember to throw down a towel on the metal chairs first or you might be in for an unpleasant surprise. :eek: Also the deck is wood and can get really really hot too, so shoes or flip flops are a must as well. But if you get too hot, it's a simple matter of going inside to cool off for a bit. Having the extra room for a lounger on your balcony is a real bonus (ask your room steward for one if there isn't one already there). We did not experience any ash, but occasionally would feel water droplets from the water slides up above. Views can be limited when pulling into port. We were already docked many times before we even realized it. But pulling away you get a marvelous "goodbye" view of the port you are leaving. No noise, but lots of vibration from the ship itself. Not enough to be annoying, or to keep you awake. It's like being rocked gently to sleep. You have to try an aft at least once and then decide if the upgrade is worth it to you. We loved it!

Thanks we thought the same try it at least once .Next cabin aft wrap around .We can always dream..........

Thanks for taking time to answer questions. We are booked in a aft next March so are interested in your thoughts about your cabin. We have 7333. How was movement, noise and temperature on balcony. Our 1 st aft so really looking forward to this hope I am not disappointed in the balcony. (We love the ship) Am looking forward to avoiding crowds and using balcony.Thanks!

You're going to love it! There was zero noise... I'd read that deck 7 was the best as its sandwiched between cabins vs. public spaces. The movement was fine also - but sea day one was really rough. That was the only day that was bad and the rest seemed to be comparable to mid ship cabins really.

My favorite part of that cabin was that you could go two floors down and be at the Red Frog, and two floors up and be in the Havana. It was the best location!