Spaniel Lover

I like the way your husband is thinking about the spa suite, and I'll tell you why.

Actually, a picture is worth a thousand words... so I want to make sure you've seen this illustration of what they call the "Spa Thermal Suite" on the Getaway.

You should also take a look at

If you get the spa cabin, as your husband suggested, you'll have full access to all of the spa facilities... including this beautiful Jacuzzi and pool area. Now I know there are other jacuzzis and pools on the ship... but they're open to ALL passengers... and there will be thousands of passengers on that ship. The spa facilities are open only to those who are booked in a spa cabin or who have purchased the limited number of available spa passes.

The bottom line is that this jacuzzi/pool area will be much less crowded and a whole lot more peaceful than the others on the ship. It looks like paradise to me.

I've sailed on both ships, and am looking forward to being on the Carnival Glory again this Spring. I think the Glory has a few advantages over the Sunshine.

Most importantly, the Glory has an aft pool with a sliding dome that can cover the pool during bad weather. So, if you run in to any thunderstorms... that's no problem on the Glory. Also, that aft pool tends to be very mellow. So, if you're looking for a quiet place to hang out by the pool... you will find it on the Glory. The Sunshine does not have an aft pool. The atmosphere at the mid-ship pool on the Sunshine is loud and crazy. And all the noise from the mid-ship pool area can be heard in the majority of the serenity area on the Sunshine... except for a few loungers up at the very front of the ship.

The other bad situation on the Sunshine is the comedy club. It's the worst in the entire Carnival fleet... simply way too small given the large number of passengers on that ship. We literally arrived at the comedy club 30 minutes prior to a show and could not get a seat. It's a really strange design, too... a large number of seats do not have a view of the comedian! They had to install televisions in two parts of the club so that people could watch the comedian on the TV since they did not have a view of the stage.

So, if you like sitting around a quiet pool... or you like using the pool even during bad weather... or you like going to the comedy club... you'll want to pick the Carnival Glory over the Carnival Sunshine.

With all that said, though, the Sunshine does have a couple of things that the Glory doesn't. The Sunshine has the best Cruise Director in the entire Carnival fleet, Jaime Dee. It also has the Havana Bar, and JiJi's Asian Kitchen. So, if any of those things are important to you... consider the Sunshine.

The problem with John's question on Facebook today is the way he phrased the question. Here's what he asked:

In your opinion, volume only, not content, please when you cruised on a ship with the DiveIn Movie Big Screen is the volume we have: perfect, too loud or not loud enough. Please answer using one of the three.

Worded like that, it sounds like he's specifically asking about the volume of MOVIES. Also, the question is specific to the volume of the programming on the television screen.

Usually the problem with things being too loud out at the mid-ship pool is with music being played out there... and also morning television shows. Movie volume is usually not a problem.

He's getting an awful lot of responses of "it's not loud enough"... and I have to assume that these people are talking about the volume of movie dialogue at night. Nobody in their right mind would say that the volume is not loud enough when they play music mid-day or when they're showing Good Morning America at 7 AM.

I bought 100 shares two years ago at $30.83 per share so that I could start getting the shareholder benefit each time I cruised. In those two years, I have cruised eight times, with the ninth coming up soon. That's $800 in shareholder discounts. During that time, the 100 shares of stock has appreciated by $1,042. So, in two years I've received a total return of $1842 on a $3,083 investment.

I remember reading some online message boards about CCL stock just before I bought it. There were all these naysayers talking trash about the Carnival Corporation and saying that it was going to go bankrupt due to the Concordia incident. I thought they were idiots then, and I still do!

I contacted Jaime, to ask your question for you. Her schedule for March is a little up in the air right now. She promises to let me know when her schedule is set. I'll post the information here, once she lets me know.

I was on the Sunshine a few weeks ago. Based on that experience, I would ask you a few questions...

1. Do you anticipate spending much time in the Serenity retreat... and if so, is it vital that it actually be serene? If so, pick the Liberty. Except for a few loungers at the very front of the Serenity retreat, there is all sorts of noise from the speakers at the mid-ship pool in the Serenity area of the Carnival Sunshine.

2. Are you planning to go to the comedy club? If so, pick the Liberty. The comedy club on the Sunshine is probably the worst in the entire fleet. Way too small for the number of passengers aboard. We went 30 minutes before a show one night, and there weren't any seats available at all. Some of the seats literally do not have a view of the stage! There are two TV monitors installed so that people without a view of the stage can see the show.

3. Do you enjoy swimming and hanging out at the aft pool to avoid the loud, crazy atmosphere of the mid-ship pool? If so, choose the Liberty. There is no aft pool on the Sunshine.

4. Are you sailing at a time of the year when there could be cool temperatures or some rain? If so, pick the Liberty... it has a pool with a sliding dome so that you can enjoy an "indoor" pool during any bad weather.

5. Are you excited by the idea of JiJi's Asian Kitchen? If so, pick the Sunshine. Liberty doesn't have it.

6. Do you want to cruise with the best Cruise Director that Carnival has? Pick the Sunshine. Jaime Dee is THE BEST.

Read your review on cruising the magic. What week did u cruise her in August 2012? Our son got married on 8/19/12 on Magic and we had 30+ guests on that week.

We were right there with you. We boarded the Carnival Magic on 8/19/12, and stayed on for two weeks. (Back-to-back cruises.)

Tell your husband to start packing his bags... you're going on a cruise!!!

Here's a photo I found at the ZydecoCruiser web page. Bill shot this during his Carnival Sunshine cruise in November.

Who is the captain?

The Captain was Carmelo Marino.

Does the Sunshine have a nice outside deck area on the Promenade deck like they do on the Magic? Are the hot tubs only on Lido deck? Can you eat lunch for free at the Italian place. What were the movies they were showing on the outdoor movie screen? TIA :)

A few of the movies were:

Pitch Perfect, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, The Lucky One, Playing For Keeps, The Help, Lincoln, and The Bourne Legacy.

Also... they didn't show it on the Seaside Theatre screen... but on the TVs in the cabins they showed National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation... which was quite timely the week before Christmas. There was one night when I was feeling horrible from the cold I had picked up, and I just crashed in the cabin and watched "Christmas Vacation". It totally put a smile on my face!

The Sunshine does not have a big walkway all the way around Promenade deck like the Dream-class ships have.

There aren't very many Jacuzzi's on the ship. There's one at the top of the waterfall, and two on Lido deck. That's it. They removed two (and the aft pool) to make room for the area that is now the Havana Bar, Jiji's Asian Kitchen, Cucina Del Captitano, etc.

Yes, lunch is always free at Cucina Del Capitano... on all Carnival ships that have it.

If you don't mind me asking...what was the price for the excursion you spoke about in Cozumel? We have been there many times and this sounds like it was fantastic.

Thanks!

"La Casa En La Playa" was $130 for adults and $110 for children. It was totally worth the money, as far as I'm concerned. It was one of my all-time favorite shore excursions.

I realized today that I forgot to tell one other story from the cruise...

As you can tell, I am kind of a photography nut. I take a big backpack with me on cruises, and it is full of photography gear and my laptop computer. One of the items I bring along in my camera backpack is a very high-end Canon "prime" zoom lens. For those of you who know Canon gear, it's the "L" series 100-400mm zoom... which is about a $1500 lens. It's the most expensive thing I bring with me on a cruise.

So, there I was... hanging out in the Captain's Suite... and I had gotten in to my camera backpack to get something for shooting a photo. I decided to move the camera backpack over to the bed for a minute. I lifted the backback with one hand, but didn't have a very good grip on it... and to MY TOTAL HORROR the $1500 lens slid out of the backpack and fell approximately two feet to the floor. There was instantly a horrible sound of breaking glass, and as I looked down at the carpet I saw little bits of broken glass everywhere around where the lens had landed.

At that moment, I had visions of $1500 going down the drain. That is a feeling you do not want to have!

Well, it turns out that when I purchased the lens I made a very smart move... I bought a neutral-density filter for it. That's basically a clear piece of glass that you attach to the front of the lens to protect it from damage. When I dropped the lens to the floor, it was the neutral-density filter that hit the floor first... and that's what shattered. A $50 protective filter! Boy, was that a great lesson on why you protect a $1500 lens with a $50 filter. No damage at all to the lens... just shattered the filter.

Whew!

Please seriously consider The Haven. It's a very special area, peaceful, with it's own butler, restaurant, pool and hot tub. We sail mostly is suites on NCL and the service and amenities can't be beat...

I'm definitely thinking about it! I've pretty well got my 2014 cruise schedule lined up... but a NCL Haven cruise is a definite possibility in late 2014 or beyond. I really like the idea of NCL's Haven, and I could definitely see myself there... as it does appear to be the quiet, non-crowded outdoor space of my fantasies.

I have to see what happens with the two upcoming Princess cruises, though. A particularly fantastic (or horrible!) experience with Princess could influence my future cruise planning, for sure.

Since Carnival's next new ship won't be here until 2016, I can do some experimentation in 2014 and 2015 to see if I'm still really a Carnival-only guy deep inside or not. I can tell you for sure that when the Carnival Vista comes to the USA, I will be truly looking forward to experiencing the latest Carnival innovations. I have very much enjoyed seeing the innovations on each new ship in the fleet.

Thank you! I am pretty excited about getting some pictures and hope that the quality is only have as good as yours! I have a Canon Rebel T3i. We have an aft wrap in April so I am hoping to get some great pics sitting on our balcony during the day and evenings.

Oh, yeah, you can get some great pictures with your T3i, for sure. I used to have a T2i, prior to upgrading to the T5i. All the Digital Rebels take excellent pictures.

There are two inexpensive accessories you could add on to improve the quality of your photos. The first would be a polarizing filter to attach to the front of the lens. Use this filter when shooting outdoor stuff that has either the sky or the ocean in it.

The other good accessory to have is a decent tripod. This is useful in several situations. Use it when shooting things in low light situations... or when shooting things at maximum zoom... or when shooting video. By having the camera on a tripod in those situations, you will eliminate camera shake, and that will help improve the focus quality (sharpness) of your photos. When shooting video, the end result will be so much more professional looking if shot with a tripod. You get an amateurish shaky camera look to your videos if you do not use a tripod.

I use this tripod... which is large enough to be very strong and sturdy... but small enough to be able to be packed INSIDE my largest suitcase. So, it's easy to bring along on an airplane flight as well as on the cruise.

If you are driving to the port rather than flying... you can simply stick a luggage tag on to a tripod and check it with the Carnival porters... and it will magically show up at your cabin later.

I am interested in your opinion of your Montego Bay excursion. Do you think it was worth the money? We are considering this same one, but it will be pricey for 4 of us. I have 2 boys ages 5 & 8.

The tickets cost $110 for adults and $80 for children. So, for your family you would be looking at $380 to go to this resort. Seems a little pricey to me, but only you can make that decision.

Forgetting the money, for a minute...

You would all have a great time, I'm sure. There's a swimming pool that the kids would love, as well as that great beach. Unlimited drinks... so that's booze or soft drinks for the parents and just soft drinks, of course, for the kids. There's also two different food options: they have barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers, served with fries... and they also have a real nice sit-down buffet. You can take advantage of either or both, as little or as much as you want. That is a great way to go for the family... as everyone can have it their way.

Also, I didn't mention it in the review, but they also have kayaks that you can use (for free) and they also have a small sailboat that they will take you out on for free. Your kids would probably get a kick out of this. Either put the kids on together (the boat is sailed by a responsible resort employee, approximately 20 years old) or each parent takes turns going out on the boat with one kid.

So, forgetting the money, I think your family would have a lot of fun there. Be aware that because they do serve unlimited alcoholic beverages that it is possible that your kids will witness some too-drunk people. It could be a little awkward, but it could also be a great opportunity for a life lesson.

You'd have to decide whether it's worth $380. I know when I was raising my kids, I never would have spent $380 on a five-hour beach trip. But maybe your financial situation is different than mine was when my kids were that age!!!

Great review! Do you mind sharing what type camera you are using for these great pics, as well as what camera you used for your videos and for your underwater pictures?

It's complicated! Normally when I write up one of these reviews, I will mention that I use a Canon Digital Rebel to shoot the photos and videos. However, it's no longer the only camera I use! The photos you saw were actually from four different cameras.

The best looking photos, and all videos except the snuba video, were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel T5i digital SLR camera. I shoot in RAW mode, and do some sharpening before resizing and saving to .jpg format for posting on the Internet. So that explains why some of the photos look so good! For example, the photo of the waterfall (2nd picture on the 1st page of this topic) was taken with this camera. Also, I use a polarizing filter on the lens of the Digital Rebel to enhance the look of the sky and the ocean... which is why the shots of some of the other cruise ships (Island Princess, Norwegian Pearl) look pretty good.

The snuba video was taken with an Olympus TG-830 waterproof camera.

Sometimes I don't want to carry a camera around with me and just pack my cell phone. I recently upgraded my phone and picked one that happens to shoot really great quality pictures. So, a few of the photos you saw were just shot with the phone. It's an HTC One. The very first photo on the first page of this topic was shot with the HTC One phone, for example. That's the photo of the Carnival Sunshine at anchor off Grand Cayman.

Finally, you will notice that a few of the pictures look just absolutely horrible. For example, the picture of my son hugging the bartender from the Alchemy bar. That was shot with Jeff's iPhone. As highly praised as the iPhone is by so many people... I just have to say (as a photographer) that it has a really crappy camera built in to it!

The Valor has the 2.0 upgrades and the Guy Burgers? I am on the Valor in 2 weeks and I read that it was upgraded a few years back but I thought I read it doesn't have the Guy Burgers. I hope your right and I'm wrong because my kids loved those burgers on the Liberty. They weren't happy when I said the Valor didn't have them so if it does, I won't tell them so they can be surprised.

Oops... my mistake. That's what I get for shooting off a list like that from memory, rather than researching it. I stand corrected about the Valor... no Funship 2.0 features, yet. Sorry!

I just realized that in writing up my review, I left off one story! I think all you cruise fanatics will appreciate this.

There I was... driving down the freeway to Los Angeles international airport to catch our flight to New Orleans. The minivan was loaded up with all of our luggage. Excitement was high. We had to leave the house at Zero-Dark-Thirty in order to be in Los Angeles for a 10 AM flight. We had a little bit of extra time built in to our schedule in case we ran in to bad rush hour freeway traffic, but only about an hour of extra time.

So... about two hours south of our house... we stop at a gas station / mini mart for some fuel and a snack. I reach in to my pocket to pull out some money for a snack and discover -- TO MY TOTAL HORROR!!! -- that I do not have my wallet with me! I quickly realize that it is at home, in a drawer.

I did have my passport with me, thank goodness. And my wife had her wallet which had credit cards and about $200 cash. But my wallet was at home, so I had no credit cards and no cash of my own. It would take a four hour drive (up and back) just to get them and return to my current location. I only had a one hour pad in the schedule, so that was definitely not going to happen!

So, we just decided to proceed on our merry way. We figured that since I had my passport, boarding pass, etc... I would have no problem getting on the airplane and the cruise ship. And since my wife had credit cards and some cash, we could pay for whatever we needed.

Indeed... it worked out fine... there were no disasters. But just imagine my horror at that instant when I realized that I didn't have my wallet!!!

now i'm going to go read your take on the splendor since that's up next for me :D

OK... but the thing you have to keep in mind is that it's been years since I was on the Splendor and wrote that review! So, lots of things may have changed since then.

The thing I really love about the Splendor is the arrangement they have for the Jacuzzis one level up above the mid-ship Lido pool. It's really a great place for the Jacuzzis. No other Carnival ship is set up that way.

The thalasotherapy pool on the Splendor is pretty cool, too.

One last picture, before I wrap this thing up! Here's Jeff & Kellyn celebrating Jeff's 28th birthday in New Orleans...

I always enjoy sharing my photos, videos, and cruise stories with the folks on Cruise Critic. I've learned a lot from Cruise Critic over the years, and this is how I give something back. I hope you've enjoyed the story. I apologize for the rant... it's not normally my style. I'm a "gets a bad steak, doesn't say a word to the waiter" kind of guy. But I think it's important to shine a light on the fact that the Carnival Sunshine is a little different from the other ships in the fleet. I'll be sticking with the Carnival Breeze and the Conquest-class ships in the future, as well as testing the waters with Princess in 2014.

Any review of our Carnival Sunshine cruise would be incomplete without also talking about the things to see and do in New Orleans before or after your cruise. This was our second visit to New Orleans, and we saw a very different side of the city this time around. During our first visit, which was only just three months earlier, it was just me and my wife on that trip. She's fairly easily offended... so we totally stayed away from Bourbon Street and the whole raunchy side of the city. We did a very family-friendly tour of the Big Easy during our first visit. You can read about it here.

This time around, there were other forces at play. Most importantly, we had our 28-year-old son with us... and it was his birthday the night before the cruise. You can't bring a 28-year-old to New Orleans on his birthday and not visit Bourbon Street. The other thing was that even this 56-year-old felt a little cheated by not being able to visit Bourbon Street last time around... so there was no way we would be doing the family-friendly New Orleans tour this time!

I have to start by telling you about the best thing we ate during our entire vacation. You read my rant about the cruise ship food so I think you probably already figured out that the best thing we ate during this vacation was not on the ship... it was at a restaurant in New Orleans. And I've got pictures!

"Barbecue Shrimp" at Pere Antoine's restaurant

We totally lucked in to a fantastic dinner the first night we were in New Orleans. We just walked over to the French Quarter and started looking at restaurants and the menus posted outside... until we found one that all three of us liked. We ended up at Pere Antoine's restaurant at 741 Royal Street.

Kellyn likes shrimp, and also likes food cooked on a barbecue... so when she saw "Barbecue Shrimp" on the menu, it caught her eye. She was surprised when the menu included a complete paragraph explaining that in spite of the name, "Barbecue Shrimp" in New Orleans is not actually cooked on a barbecue. It's a misnomer. It probably ought to really be known as "Cajun Shrimp". In any case, in New Orleans, the term they use is "Barbecue Shrimp". It's cooked in a pot in a sauce with all sorts of Cajun spices... and Kellyn just absolutely LOVED it. She loved it so much that the next day for lunch, at a different restaurant in the French Quarter, she ordered "Barbecue Shrimp" again. It was OK, but not as good as at Pere Antoine's. At dinner on our second night in New Orleans, at yet another restaurant, once again Kellyn ordered the "Barbecue Shrimp"... and again it was OK, but not as good as at Pere Antoine's. So, if barbecue shrimp sounds good to you and you'll be visiting New Orleans sometime soon... take Kellyn's advice and head to Pere Antoine's at 741 Royal Street.

I also totally loved my meal at Pere Antoine's on our first night in New Orleans. I ordered a steak... and unlike the one I paid $35 for at the Carnival Sunshine steakhouse... it was fantastic.

I really enjoyed visiting the French Quarter of New Orleans because there was not only good food, but good music, too. We stopped for a drink at a bar called Maison Bourbon, and listened to a jazz quartet for a while.

Another place where we found good music was at the New Orleans Musical Legends Park. There's a restaurant and bar there, and they had a good band playing.

Great entertainment is one of the reasons that they call them the Fun Ships. There's comedy, musical entertainment, big production shows, game shows, and we even had a juggler/comedian perform for us. They don't let you take pictures at most of those events, so I don't have photos to illustrate this section of the story. Let's just say that we've always been happy with the entertainment on Carnival. It's unfortunate that I was so ill during the second half of the cruise, because by the time the evenings rolled around I was totally wiped out and I ended up skipping quite a few of the shows I normally would have attended.

I've seen the "Love & Marriage" show on just about every cruise I've been on, and let me just say that Jaime did one of the best versions I've ever seen. She's simply the best Cruise Director there is!

One really great thing about the $155 million renovation is that they fixed the problem with the performing area in Ocean Plaza. If you've been on the Carnival Dream, Carnival Magic, or Carnival Breeze... you may have noticed the awkward arrangement for the stage in Ocean Plaza. It's a very goofy setup, with the audience out to the sides, rather than in front of the stage where it should be. And the dance floor is right where the foot traffic in the area wants to be. It's messed up! Luckily, whoever designs the ships must have figured it out... because they got it right on the Carnival Sunshine. They have a really nice area for music and dancing in Ocean Plaza...

An event I won't soon forget was the Playlist Productions show "Studio VIP". This must be new... as I haven't seen it on any of the other cruises we've been on. They actually incorporate about a dozen guests in to the show. The pre-selected VIP guests are brought out of the audience by the professional dancers and the guests just have to let loose and dance and have fun as part of the show. Believe me, I had no intention to volunteer for this... but as we were standing in line to get in to the theatre, I heard Jaime having a hard time convincing people to volunteer for it. They needed twelve VIP guests to be in the show, and they had a hard time getting the last few volunteers. Finally, when they had 11 volunteers, I decided to do Jaime a favor and volunteer to fill the last VIP guest spot. Trust me when I say that this overweight 56-year-old over-the-hill guy is not normally found up on a stage dancing in front of a thousand people. But when in Rome...

That's me, in the tie, up on stage along with several other passengers as part of the "Studio VIP" show.

Getting back to things that were "less than perfect"...

I've got to tell you about the lasagna that they serve for lunch at Cucina Del Capitano. Strangest lasagna I've ever had!

It doesn't really look bad, does it? In fact, it looks pretty good to me. But it's so strange, because they make it with shredded beef. I'm not Italian, and I've never been to Italy... so all I know about how Italian food is supposed to be is based on restaurants I've been to in California. And up until the Cucina Del Capitano, I've never had shredded beef in lasagna. It doesn't seem to belong! Shredded beef is great in a taco, or an enchilada, or on top of nachos... but in lasagna? Weird.

None of the things I've mentioned so far ruined my cruise. The bad dining experiences, the lack of a quiet outdoor space... I could have rolled with all of those things and had a fine cruise. But I'll tell you what really did actually mess things up pretty bad for me. I got sick, about three days in to the cruise. It was just a cold... but it was a nasty cold, with a nasty cough, and it sapped all my energy and just made me want to sit in my suite and do nothing for the second half of the cruise. While it was mostly my fault for not being better about washing my hands frequently... Carnival contributed to this, to a certain degree. Let me explain.

The Carnival Sunshine has a new feature that I've never seen on any of the other ships in the fleet. It's a special hand washing facility, and you'll find them all over the dining areas of the ship. They look like this...

You put your hands in to those two holes in the center, and there's a thing inside that's kind of like a car wash! It squirts warm water and soap up and down, all over your hands, and then does a rinse cycle to rinse you off. After it's all over, you're supposed to reach up and grab a paper towel and dry off your hands... and then throw away the paper towel in to either one of those round holes on the outside. That's how it's supposed to work. The problem is... see where the sign says "hand towel" and points up to a dispenser above? There's never any paper towels in it. Never. I don't know why, but there never are. So, they've put out small boxes of Kleenex instead. Ever tried to dry your hands off with Kleenex? Try it sometime, it doesn't work! Kleenex are designed for noses... not hands. They are simply too fragile for hands. It's a mess.

So, because there were never any hand towels in the dispenser, I never washed my hands in the restaurants. And by day 3 of the cruise, I picked up a cold that made me feel so bad that it nearly ruined the entire second half of the cruise for me. I mostly blame myself for the bad hygiene, but I blame Carnival a little, too, for the lack of functional hand washing stations.

Finally, I have to talk about the disaster that is the Carnival Sunshine comedy club. Oh my GOD! If you thought the comedy clubs on other Carnival ships were too small and you were frustrated by not being able to get a seat at a show... you ain't seen nothing yet until you've sailed on the Carnival Sunshine. The comedy club is simply a total disaster. First off, I'm not exaggerating when I say that about 20% of the seats in the comedy club do not even have a direct view of the stage! The layout is so screwed up that they actually put in TV monitors in the two front corners of the room so that people could see what's happening on the stage. Believe it, or not!

But the real problem is that, once again, Carnival has simply made the comedy club too darned small to accommodate the demand. The first night or two, it's not a big problem. It takes people a couple of nights to settle in to their cruise and figure out where everything is. By about the third night, though, everybody's found the comedy club... and they've all decided to attend the exact same show as you. I'm not kidding when I say that we showed up 30 minutes early for a show one night... and had to leave because it was already standing room only. 30 minutes before the show! I don't know about you, but I've got better things to do on a cruise than go to a show an hour early just so I can get a seat.

OK... that's my entire rant. I enjoyed the cruise, but I'm pretty sure I won't be back to the Carnival Sunshine. The Carnival Breeze is a MUCH better ship... that's the one you should book! If not the Breeze, any of the Conquest-class ships are fine, too. And I've got high hopes for the Carnival Vista in 2016!

While we're on the subject of food, I want to clue you in to something that not everyone figures out about the Carnival Sunshine... how to get an omelet at the breakfast buffet. On day five of our cruise, I was carrying my breakfast tray to our table and a woman stopped me and asked "Where did you get that omelet?!?" I laughed and said "you mean to tell me that five days in to a 7-day cruise, you haven't found the omelet station?!?" And then when I started to think about it, I realized that I only knew where the omelet station was because I had read about it on Cruise Critic. It's not obvious at all. In fact, it's in a completely different room as all the rest of the breakfast buffet! It's the strangest buffet layout, ever. In fact, to get the items you see here, I had to go to four different places! If you went during peak breakfast demand, that would mean standing in four different lines. Off peak, the lines are short, if any.

Anyway, it's a very odd set-up they have for the breakfast buffet on the Carnival Sunshine. I picked up the orange juice at one serving station. Then I had to go to a different serving station for the plate, napkin, and the potatoes. Then to another station for the two little apple pastries. And finally, to a completely different room for the omelet! (Follow the signs to JiJi's Asian Kitchen... in the morning, it doubles as an omelet station.) Also, note the Lawry's seasoning salt. That's a trick I learned to improve cruise ship breakfasts. I bring that from home.

Now let's talk about lunch. I think that's actually the strong point of the entire Carnival dining experience. I love love LOVE lunches on the newer Carnival cruise ships that have the Funship 2.0 dining options. That would be the Carnival Breeze, Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Glory, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Valor, Carnival Conquest, and Carnival Triumph. (Did I forget any?) These ships have Guy's Burger Joint, plus the new version of Carnival pizza. Between those two, I'm set for lunch every day. There is absolutely no need for me to visit the standard buffet at lunch time when there are Guy Fieri burgers or the new Carnival pizza available. They are delicious!

The "new" Funship 2.0 version of Carnival Pizza

 

 



"The Ringer" at Guy's Burger Joint

Up until now, I've focused this review on all the things I enjoyed about our cruise . I put all that stuff first because I want to be sure that you understand that we enjoyed our cruise and that there was much to like! Really, is it possible to have a bad cruise in the Captain's Suite? I don't think so! In addition to the great suite we were in, there was the best possible Cruise Director, a beautiful newly-refurbished ship, and three great shore excursions in three beautiful Caribbean ports of call. So, really, it was a fine cruise.

However, with all that said, I don't think we'll be cruising on the Carnival Sunshine again. Ever. Let me explain why...

To understand the situation, I have to explain one thing I don't like about Carnival cruises... and why it's never been a problem for me, until now.

I'm sure you've heard Carnival referred to as "The Fun Ships". It's something they take great pride in. They don't want to bore anyone. There's always supposed to be something fun going on. The epicenter of all that fun is usually the mid-ship pool area on Lido deck. This is where it's one big party, most of the time. All of your sail away parties, deck parties, dance parties, hairy chest competitions, ice carving demonstrations, and mixology contests take place here. If there's not live music going on, there's a DJ spinning party tunes.

It's LOUD and rowdy at the mid ship pool. The music is often painfully loud and obnoxious. The people are often drunk. The pool is filled with obnoxious little kids. In short, I absolutely hate it at the mid ship pool! It's simply not for me. If you're 25 years old and looking for a party, the mid ship pool is probably a little slice of heaven for you. I'm 56, and looking for some quiet relaxing time in the sun or in the water... with no noise and no craziness. I'm looking for serenity. So, the mid ship pool area simply doesn't work for me. But on most Carnival ships, that's OK... because there are quiet alternative places to relax. My go-to relaxation place on the Fantasy-class ships is the aft Serenity retreat. On the Dream-class and Conquest-class ships, it's the aft pool and Jacuzzi area.

The very quiet and relaxing aft pool area on the Carnival Breeze.

It was my favorite hang out, and I spent hours and hours here.

The Carnival Destiny did have a quiet aft pool area. But when they did the $155 million transformation in to the Carnival Sunshine, they ripped out the aft pool and replaced it with the Havana Bar and the area that includes Cucina Del Capitano and JiJi's Asian Kitchen. Those are all worthy additions, but without the aft pool area, there's no quiet outdoor place for this old guy to sit and enjoy the sun or to take a quiet swim. You'd think the Serenity Retreat at the front of the ship would be my new go-to place for relaxation... but there's a big problem with that. The Carnival Sunshine's Serenity Retreat is located directly adjacent to the mid-ship pool area. In fact, the gigantic speakers that blare loud music almost all day long are pointed directly at the Serenity Retreat! Believe me, it isn't serene!

Thankfully, we did have the big Captain's Suite and the large balcony that goes with it... so that was our quiet retreat for the week. If we hadn't had that, I'm sure I would have gone crazy during the week. I truly missed the aft pool area that I've come to love on most other Carnival ships. I missed it so much, that I'm pretty sure I won't be coming back to the Carnival Sunshine.

There was one other thing about our cruise that was far less than perfect... and that was the dining situation. In 20 Carnival cruises, I've never had so many bad dining experiences in one week. Let's start with the steak house. I've dined at Carnival steak houses many, many times before and never had a bad experience. Until now! Here's the steak I had...

This was simply the worst steak I've ever had in my entire life. Period. The best way I can explain it to you is to enhance the picture with a little diagram that shows the area of the steak that was actually lean meat...

Everything else outside of that yellow area was full of fat. Look carefully at the lower left part of the steak and you can pretty much see what I mean. It's all fat! Everything outside of that yellow area was completely inedible. And I paid $35 for that!

We've cruised plenty of times before, so I know to expect that there will always be mis-steps. I can roll with the best of them, and overlook a lot. But what irritated me about the dining experience on the Carnival Sunshine is that instead of having mostly good experiences and then every now and then having a bad one... we had mostly bad experiences and every now and then a good one. The steakhouse was far from the only bad dinner experience we had during the week. One night we had a table that was crammed so close to the table next to it that it was awkward and uncomfortable. One night we had a waiter that was so strange it was awkward and uncomfortable. And one night we just had the full combination of horrible dining elements... a bad table, a bad waiter, and bad food served way too slowly. This is why on a lot of cruises, we just eat our dinner in the buffet. But Jeff likes to dress up and have dinner in the main dining room... so that's what we did most nights on this cruise. He looks pretty good all dressed up, doesn't he?

By the way, ladies... he's single.