Some thoughts on the Liberty vs Sunshine, 3 day vs 7 day, and Port Canaveral vs Charl

We got back last week from our first cruise without our children- a 3 day on the Liberty out of Port Canaveral! We had such a great time and it was definitely interesting being on a new-to-us ship. We have previously sailed two cruises (5 and 7 day) on the Sunshine out of Charleston.

The first most obvious thing was the port. In Charleston, you drive thru a maze where you drop your luggage and have to show your documents a few times. You then park and walk 7ish minutes to the building. From the time you get to the building till you get on the cruise ship, you wait standing in line after line. In Port Canaveral, you park first. The parking garage was so close to the port building. Then the building was a bit more like an airport and you did get to sit down and wait after the initial checks. Also everybody in Port Canaveral was very very friendly- it was as if they were genuinely excited to see us off on our vacation while they stayed home and worked. Ha. We have also had friendly people in Charleston, but we both felt that Port Canaveral was above and beyond friendly, if that makes sense. The whole process was also much smoother and less chaotic than Charleston. I believe (if I'm remembering correctly) that Charleston doesn't open it's gates until a certain amount of time before you begin boarding so both times we have gotten there early only to wait in a long line of cars that has not begun moving. Charleston is much closer to us, so we will still always choose it over a farther drive, but we definitely felt that Port Canaveral was the better run port.

We have heard that the Sunshine feels overcrowded and it always has to us BUT we just assumed all ships felt like this. The Liberty surprised us because we really never felt that way. Really the Sunshine is only bad on sea days at lunch. We learned to go a bit later and still had to do the whole stand and watch for a table then swoop in and claim it. Seriously there are not enough tables to accomodate everybody! The Libery has a bigger buffet area and also additional seating upstairs and even on our sea day we saw lots of empty tables. It also still has an aft pool, which is nice, and a small pool by the slide so it actually has 3 pools compared to the Sunshine's one. The Sunshine does have a water park area though, as well as a nice sized playground, and the ropes course. The only thing that gave me pause about the Liberty though is that the aft pool is adults only (which I do understand!) so all the kids are in the two pools on the main deck and we have found in the past that some of the stuff that goes on in that main lido area (the hairy chest contest for instance...ha) are not the kind of things we want our children to see, so child-wise I do give the edge to the Sunshine because that back water park area and playground is just so nice to have. We also really liked the Serenity area on the Liberty and on the Sunshine! I have also heard complaints about a sewer smell on the Sunshine but we never experienced that - but we did every single time we left our room on the Liberty (but not IN our room, thank goodness). The food was good on both ships, but I love the blue velvet cake available at the shake place on the Sunshine and the Liberty did not have that particular cake. ;) But both ships are so fun, and we would definitely sail both again. I do think the Sunshine would be just perfect IF they could just make the buffet area a bit bigger... not sure if that's even possible though. Donkey on the Liberty was hilarious but definitely more of an adult-type cruise director (a bit of crude language and cussing) whereas Emma on the Sunshine is more of a girl next door type. We liked them both! Donkey's music trivia nights were some of our favorite things; we also really enjoyed the Love and Marriage Show and the pg comedy shows. And Flick was awesome and not to be missed!

As for our 3 day cruise, we went to Nassau and got a day pass at the British Colonial Hilton (we've been to Nassau several times and just wanted a beach day). We really really enjoyed our day there and will probably return with our kids in tow. The 3 day cruise was definitely a younger and wilder demographic than our last 7 day cruise, but either way is fine with us. We have never had a bad run in with any passenger on any of our cruises. Oh the only thing I did find annoying is that there were several times people were smoking OUTSIDE of the smoking section on the Liberty. Multiple people at various times. We have never seen that even one time on the Sunshine so we were surprised by that.

Anyway, we did immensely enjoy both boats and all of our cruises. We love Carnival and have always had great service. :)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Port Canaveral and the Liberty! A friend and I leave in 12 days on the Liberty. I've been on several cruises, but this is her first. We're both excited!

Any tips or secrets you have would be appreciated! :):)

The problem with the Charleston port is it's old and was not built for the amount of passengers that the ships that sail from there carry. Unfortunately we can't get a new cruise port as long as the Charleston elite have their way in blocking it.

That being said, thank you for your insight on the two ships, we've been debating about a 5 day on the Sunshine out of Charleston, or a 4 day on the Liberty out of PC for 2019 to see how we like another class of ship other than Fantasy or Spirit class ships that we've only been on.

That was an informative review you provided. I've thought about the Sunshine since Charlotte is several hours closer to where we live than the ports in Florida. We've sailed on the Pride twice because it's close to home, but we didn't like the layout or the decor. We gave the Liberty a try last year and loved it! So, maybe, we should try the Sunshine next but just expect a less pleasurable port experience?

Thanks for the review! We are sailing out of Charleston on the Sunshine in 2019 and it is our first cruise and we are super excited! We don't have anything to compare it to, but now I am wondering if we should stay at a hotel before the cruise and leave our vehicle there or park at the port? Is it really complicated to navigate the port and parking? We are driving there from Canada so will have our vehicle.

Redbird- y'all will have so much fun! I don't have any tips really. I do just recommend both of Donkey's musical trivia games/shows. They are just in the main atrium area. We stood on the second story looking down and had a perfect view. I haven't laughed that hard in so long! And Flick was worth seeing as well.

Schazzy, Silent Penguin, and Lunabella - I may have come across harder on the port of Charleston than I meant to. I mean, it was fine really! It never took too terribly long and even the car line is not awful. They move people through both the car line and the building in a timely manner. And the first time we went our embarkation had been postponed (by Carnival not the port) and it was lateish at night and some nice worker put us in the VIP line bc we had young children. I think it took about 90 minutes from entering the gate to boarding the ship last time. My only tip would be to pick the earlier boarding times and to be at the port early too. It's just after going to Port Canaveral, we were so impressed by their process and facility. Kind of like if you always had McDonald's hamburgers and liked them but then had a real grass-fed beef burger. You didn't know what you were missing all along. Ha.

Silentpenguin, yes try the Sunshine! I think you will love it. And really Charleston is not terrible. :)

Lunabella, I think you will be fine with the port. It is not hard at all because there are people every step of the way directing you. Once you enter the gates, it's very clear. You can also pay for parking ahead of time online which saved us some hassle too! Actually we got a little lost at Port Canaveral (trying to find the right parking garage) and we did remark that at Charleston there are people to help you all over. You will have an awesome time on your cruise! And like you said, with nothing to compare it to, you'll probably think it's great. We seriously thought every port had the maze to drive through. Haha.

Here is my review on our Sunshine cruise from November 2017. It is very family oriented because we had our four children but may be of interest?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2564739

Hopep84- Thanks so much for the response! We will stay in Charleston the night before so we are there in plenty of time, but wanted to park at the port for ease of getting right on the road after the cruise and I've read the parking is secure. Thanks for the tip of pre-paying.

We are so excited although it will be a long wait before Aug 2019!

ETA: I will read your review. We are bringing our kids with us. :)

Thank you for your report.

Keith