Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Carnival Sunshine Pictures

Cruise_Lovers

By Cruise_Lovers,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

 Share

Recommended Posts

Cruise_Lovers

Cruise_Lovers

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Cruise lovers...Thanks for the detailed honest review. You have a great attitude. Hopefully you'll get to try it again soon with everthing working correctly.

 

 

It is my pleasure and thanks for the nice words!

 

When I started to cruise 6 years ago, I was reading forums and I was so happy to get info and advise from others. Now, it is my turn to help others I guess...

 

I would go back on the Sunshine anytime as I know this ship will be amazing when it is 100% ready with a crew perfectly trained.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nikkiml

nikkiml

Posted
Posted

My sister and her husband + 3 more friends were also on board. She did not experience flood in her room, but did have toilet and telephone problems.

 

The 3 friends shared a room and were suppose to have a sofa-bed, but were instead assigned to a bunk bed... imagine an male adult to have to sleep in a bunk bed? They tried to have a new room, but none available.

 

My sister made 4 other cruises with RCI and she says that Carnival has left out any luxury a ship could have... she thought it was very plain.

 

She came to the same conclusion as you, will never buy an inaugural trip again, and probably will never cruise with Carnival in the future. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keel Haul

Keel Haul

Posted
Posted
Ok. Are you ready for a novel..?

 

I'm going to explain everything that happened in details but first, note that we're not picky people at all. We enjoyed our cruise even with all the problems we had.

 

We checked-in the cruise terminal on May 5 around 1:30 PM. We were told our cabin would not be ready until 5:00 PM. No problem. We got a complementary lunch at the Farenheight 555 Steakhouse (wine included). Only this worth around about $100 for two.

 

We arrived in our Cloud 9 Spa Balcony cabin #11016 on deck 11 around 5:30 PM. I had ordered a dozen of red roses for my wife on Carnival's website about two months ago to surprise her (after all, it was going to be the trip of our lives). The roses were on the table in a vase without water in it. Still, they were in good condition so we simply added water in the vase ourselves. End of case. I'm not being picky, I'm just writing everything in details so you can realise that everything was done at a crazy pace.

 

I went immediately to the balcony as it was the first time we had a balcony on a cruise. As soon as I turned around the bed, my feet were soaked. Our carpet was flooded about 25 square feet (from the patio door to halfway underneath the bed).

 

I tried to call guest services but our phone wasn't working. I went down to deck 3. There was a one hour line-up. A couple crew members were wandering through the line taking notes trying to help people. One of them finally came up to me. I explained him our issue. He told me he would forward the info to the authorities ASAP.

 

When I came back in our cabin, my wife told me the toilet wasn't flushing and that the safe and TV weren't working either... ok... so we went down to Promenade deck 5 and found "public" bathrooms. What we didn't know at this point is that we would have to use these for 2 days.

 

We took showers (yes, the shower was working! LOL) We went for our dinner at the Sunset Restaurant - Late Dining 8:15 PM. Awesome dinner and great service! We went to see the show in Liquid Lounge and came back in our room around 11:30 PM. We noticed that nothing had changed in our room. Our carpet was still soaked-wet, the toilet didn't flush, the phone, safe and TV didn't work...

 

Also, surprisingly, we didn't get any turn-down service... no towels changed, no clean-up, no towel animal... our stateroom stewards never showed up! (???). We went to bed.

 

When I woke up I tried to call guest services. Of course, the phone wasn't working. I went down to deck 3 and waited in line. Another crew member came to me. I explained him our issues. He told me he would forward the info to the authorities ASAP. Sort of déjà-vu...

 

When I came back in our room, I saw one of our cabin steward in the corridor. I politely told him that he had forgotten our room the night before. He said that he was really sorry and that this was because he was really tired yesterday. I couldn't believe it... but I didn't argue with him as we had bigger problems than that at the moment...

 

We went to get breakfast. Then, we went to visit the ship and noticed that the main pool (Beach Pool) and that the Sportsquare & Waterworks were closed. There was a panel saying "we're doing the finishing touches and doing our best to get these sections operational as quickly as possible".

 

We came back in our room around 1:45 PM as the ship was leaving Venice at 2:00 PM. We wanted to see it leave from our balcony. When we arrived in our room, no change... carpet soaked, toilet, phone, safe and TV still didn't work... Ok, now that was just too much for me and I was starting to boil inside (at this point, you must agree it's understandable). I went to get a bunch of Cloud 9 Spa towels myself (the big and thick yellow ones) on Serenity - Deck 14. I put them on the carpet and jumped over to absorb the water from the carpet as much as possible as it was starting to smell (humidity). We really enjoyed the vision of Venice's Grand Canal from our balcony (no kidding).

 

Then, we went visit the ship again. When we came back in our room, someone had came to suck the water off the carpet with a "shop vac" and a big and noisy blower was drying the carpet! Yahoo! Finally! Toilet and safe were also fixed!

 

Two days later, carpet was dry so I unplugged the blower in the afternoon. I left everything there hoping they would put everything back in place (bed was move further from the patio door to help the drying).

 

When we came back in our room around 10:00 PM, nothing had changed so I removed the blower myself. I put it in the corridor. I replaced the bed where it's supposed to be and we had to use the towels we had left on the floor as our cabin steward didn't show up again... unbelievable!

 

I saw him in the corridor the next morning and made it clear to him it would be in is interest to not forget us again as I would do a complaint. Everything was OK for the rest of the cruise, without towel animals but I didn't care... all I wanted is clean towels and a room done.

 

3 or 4 days later, still no phone. That's minor, but I was too curious... so I decided to remove the drawers from the desk were the phone was. I checked under and there were unplugged wires coming off the wall and the phone wire was hanging below... Ha-ha! The AT&T guy didn't do his job! LOL! So I went to guest services and told them what was the problem. They fixed it 3 days later.

 

Sportsquare & Waterworks opened 2 days before the end of the cruise...

 

In details, here are the refunds we got:

 

- Because our room wasn't ready when we arrived : $230 ($115 / person)

- Because Sportsquare & Waterworks we're not ready for almost the entire cruise: $150 ($75 / person)

- Because of all the problems we got in our room (20% off our cruise rate): $368 ($184 / person)

- We don't know why: $32 ($16 / person)

 

Total: $780.00

 

We also got a complementary lunch at the Farenheight 555 Steakhouse worth about $100

 

We think the refunds we got are reasonable and we are happy. Carnival did "everything possible" to resolve the problems we had. It took quite some time because there were problems all around the ship and some far more worse that ours (entire cabins flooded, toilet not working for the entire cruise, no shower, no water, luggage lost etc.)

 

We think that the Destiny/Sunshine transformation should have taken at least a couple more weeks in order for the ship to be 100% ready. They didn't have enough time to test it. Also, the crew were totally exhausted and overwhelmed. There were also many inexperienced crew members. This is not what you usually expect on a cruise especially when you pay big bucks for it...

 

Nevertheless, we will cruise with Carnival again as this is the best and funniest cruise line, but never again on an inaugural...

 

I hope reading this was informative/helpful and for those of you who will be on the Sunshine shortly, don't worry. I'm sure everything will be back to normal very quickly.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Marc

thank you for your balanced report,with hindsight do you think the ship should have sailed?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruise_Lovers

Cruise_Lovers

Posted
  • Author
Posted
thank you for your balanced report,with hindsight do you think the ship should have sailed?

 

Tough call...

 

It depends on who you are... the job you have, the latitude you have for your vacations... if you only have 2 weeks of vacations per year, your screwed... if you can't move your vacations to another date, your screwed...

 

However, if you have a good job, a good boss, a certain latitude and can move your vacations to another date, then you're fine...

 

If I was a company president, I wouldn't mind and would have taken my vacations another time so my answer to you would be "it shouldn't have sailed".

 

If I only had 2 weeks of vacations left in my vacation bank and my boss was a executioner (LOL), I would tell you I don't care if it's not ready, I'm going anyway...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruise_Lovers

Cruise_Lovers

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Besides the line at guest services, were crowds an issue? (Buffet,lido,ocean plaza, ect)

 

 

I didn't find the ship crowded at all. Maybe a little bit in the "Marketplace" area for the breakfast. If you don't go early enough, you'll find this place very crowded... but we're early birds so it wasn't an issue for us...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AALCRUISER

AALCRUISER

Posted
Posted

Thank you for the pictures and review. Even though you and the ship encountered several issues, you positive outlook was welcomed. I probably gone balistic when the cabin steward told me he was too tired. We will be sailing The Triumph on the 6th of July. Hopefully it will be ready. Has anyone heard if the upgrades on The Triumph will be similar to the Sunshine?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tiki22

Tiki22

Posted
Posted

Marc, your room looked beautiful-- along with your upbeat attitude. We're sailing on the Sunshine in August in cabin 11022. Do you have any idea which balconies can be unlocked to open to the adjoining cabins on the Serenity deck. Usually Carnival can give us that info but at this time they do not have it. P.S. should I pack a wet vac?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Keel Haul

Keel Haul

Posted
Posted
Tough call...

 

It depends on who you are... the job you have, the latitude you have for your vacations... if you only have 2 weeks of vacations per year, your screwed... if you can't move your vacations to another date, your screwed...

 

However, if you have a good job, a good boss, a certain latitude and can move your vacations to another date, then you're fine...

 

If I was a company president, I wouldn't mind and would have taken my vacations another time so my answer to you would be "it shouldn't have sailed".

 

If I only had 2 weeks of vacations left in my vacation bank and my boss was a executioner (LOL), I would tell you I don't care if it's not ready, I'm going anyway...

spoken like a true diplomat, I see you cruised the Med last yr with celebrity. Which did you prefer?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
English Tim "Live from...." Rare

English Tim

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the review. It sounds like Fawlty Towers!

 

I agree about the cruise sailing. It's far better to have a cruise with problems than no cruise, as long as the cruise line compensates you, which it did.

 

Seems all the issues are now sorted according to BSB, Carnival's roving marketeer.

 

I'm sorry but I laughed when you said you moved the bed and got wet feet!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
chill6x6

chill6x6

Posted
Posted

I'll be the first to tell you that the ship looks GREAT! I really like your cabin! I also appreciate your positive attitude BUT...

 

It is honestly hard for me to fathom that a cruise line would knowingly stick someone in what was basically a non-functional cabin for a 12 day cruise! I mean it's like toilet- CHECK, phone- CHECK, TV- CHECK! I really don't know how a company could do that.

 

You are taking this WAY better than I would have, partial refund or NOT!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruise_Lovers

Cruise_Lovers

Posted
  • Author
Posted
spoken like a true diplomat, I see you cruised the Med last yr with celebrity. Which did you prefer?

 

 

I think these two cruise lines are different, that they are both very good but meant for different clients.

 

It would be to easy to say that I prefer Carnival right away as I did 6 cruises with them and only 1 with Celebrity.

 

I think Celebrity Cruise Line is meant for older people (I don't want to generalize). Last year, at mid 40's, we were the youngest couple on the ship. We thought the ship was too quiet but since our cruise itinerary was so extraordinary (13 nights - 11 stops in Italy, Greek Iles, Malta and Turkey), we didn't suffer much of the lack of action. There was also fewer music on the ship and less animation even on sea days.

 

I think Carnival Cruise Line is meant for younger people (again, I don't want to generalize). All is based on "fun" so there's a lot of action on their ships and lots of animation. Carnival is also much cheaper than Celebrity.

 

Last year we left from Rome (Port of Civitavecchia) on May 3rd for 13 nights on the Celebrity Silhouette. We paid $1999.00 CAD each (only the cruise fare - no flights) with an interior cabin.

 

This year, we left from Venice on May 5th for 12 nights on the Sunshine and we paid $919.00 CAD each with a balcony! That's 1/2 price for a better cabin.

 

I'm not saying the cruise on the Silhouette was bad... we just thought it was too quiet... but the ship was unbelievably beautiful... even more than the Sunshine...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...