Carnival Sunshine 12 Med 18/8

[carol TC]

Please post pictures of those cabins 5340 I will be there in Feb and can't wait

[Goldwolf]

I have some pics, will post them later in the week, but as a taster.

 

The good:

 

The location is great, very close to the Ocean Plaza, Red Frog pub and Alchemy bar and right by the lifts (sorry elevators) to the lido buffet and kids clubs. No through traffic outside at all which was good.

 

The room is large, tons more space than we've ever had in a stateroom before. The sofa bed is huge, plenty of room for our 2 kids. Having the two rooms made a big difference, always space for us to spread out. The separate bedroom was somewhere to retreat too when the kids were asleep (assuming they went to bed before us mind).

 

The bathroom was great, the kids loved the spa bath and having the shower over the bath with solid dividers meant no shower curtain sticking to your legs.

 

Concerns over the balcony having shrunk were not a problem in reality. Although it is smaller than planned there were 2 sun loungers, 2 chairs and a little table on it. It no longer wraps around, but you still get a good aft and side view due to the way it's cut out and lots of sun. I spent a lot of time sunbathing on it, avoiding the sunbed lottery on the lido.

 

The bad:

 

We've never had an aft room before, so maybe this is no surprise, but the engine judder when moving was always noticeable. At night it was a low throb which in the bed was OK but it made everything rattle. We had to shove tissues in the doors and shower screen to stop them all rattling all night.

 

However when docking the throb became a big shake and if you were asleep it would always wake you up as the whole bed shook. Given there were a number of 7 AM docks (or earlier) this was not always welcome!

 

We had smokers in the stateroom above us in deck 6 who obviously couldn't go more than 5 hours without their next nicotine hit. Therefore most mornings as the sun rose (maybe 5:30 some days, sometimes later) they would head out to the balcony and scrape their chairs/sun beds around as they got their fix. Due to the angle of the decks their balcony is over the bedroom and the scraping was noticeable. I sleep quite heavy and it woke me about 50% of the time, but my wife is a lighter sleeper and it always woke her up. She was not amused.

 

The balcony light never worked. I reported this on about the 3rd day and was told the captain could enable or disable it. It was never on once during the cruise. Personally I think it was broken. This was not a major problem though.

 

Personally for me the good outweighed the bad, but my wife needs her sleep more than me and was disturbed more, so she's not so keen on aft rooms now. I would for sure go in the room in the future if I had the chance.

[stlrboo]

Many thanks for the update..!:) We always try to book AFT, which is how we ended up with these cabins.. Only AFT cabins available, after we had our original cruise cancelled and opted for this sailing..!:o

We are used to most of the noises in the aft areas, but I had a feeling the cabins above would have their balcony over our sleeping area, so that is a concern..

Hoping they will be heavy/late sleepers..;)

Looking forward to some pics.. Was the Taste of Nations good for Breakfast in the early AM...? We are so port intensive I'm afraid we won't have time to get to the buffet..:rolleyes:

[Goldwolf]

Yes, the Taste bar was an excellent option for those early starts, we probably ate there 4 or 5 times during the cruise. A decent selection of food given the space available, very handy for the room and very quiet early on.

 

As advised on here, we tended to sit in Cucina del Capitano or the Havana bar when eating in the Lido marketplace during busy times, you could always get seats and it's only a short way from the food. There were drinks machines available too.

[stlrboo]

Yes, the Taste bar was an excellent option for those early starts, we probably ate there 4 or 5 times during the cruise. A decent selection of food given the space available, very handy for the room and very quiet early on.

 

As advised on here, we tended to sit in Cucina del Capitano or the Havana bar when eating in the Lido marketplace during busy times, you could always get seats and it's only a short way from the food. There were drinks machines available too.

Everything you have mentioned so far sounds wonderful...:p

We LOVE the AFT, and having things close by (food-wise) for early tours sounds especially good, even tho' we have had good luck with Room Service on prior cruises..... :) And thanks for the 'heads up' on seating while going to Lido Marketplace!!:D

[goingsailing]

we were on the sunshine in june and had a great time!! our room and service were great! i did see a few broken pipes ? around pool area on the last day but nothing major... this trip is so port intensive that there just wasnt time to enjoy all the areas of the ship! I think the serenity area was too large for the ship but other than that complaint i think it was a great trip.. whats not to love on a cruise! for the price we paid i thought it was well worth it.. wish we could go back next year for more eurpoean ports...trip of a lifetime for us!!

 

Thank you for your positive post. Nice to hear some thing good regarding the Sunshine.

[flynnsport]

very appreciative, thank you.

[jb972]

Recently returned, our cabin 7232. Not much room in the cabin but had no issues with it other than the hairdryer with a not very extendable, extendable cord! Occasional leaks in corridor outside sometimes requiring a portable fan dryer but no smelly issues.

 

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[flynnsport]

Recently returned, our cabin 7232. Not much room in the cabin but had no issues with it other than the hairdryer with a not very extendable, extendable cord! Occasional leaks in corridor outside sometimes requiring a portable fan dryer but no smelly issues.

 

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we have the balcony room right across from where you were (7230). You'd think since all the suites are on that side they'd keep it up cleaned up. Also was there much noise from the elevators being so close?

[jb972]

we have the balcony room right across from where you were (7230). You'd think since all the suites are on that side they'd keep it up cleaned up. Also was there much noise from the elevators being so close?

 

I did worry about that myself when booking but honestly it wasn't an issue. I think it depends how heavy/light a sleeper you are but we never had any noise issues. Mind you they do seem to start working along the corridors very early. The best thing about the location is you soon get the hang of getting from one part of the ship to another without getting lost. Use the elevators nearest you to go to decks 3/4/5 for guest services/shops/bars and casino go along the corridor aft to next set of elevators for deck 3/4 my time dining restaurant 9/10/11 pool and lido/sport square/spa.:)

 

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[flynnsport]

I did worry about that myself when booking but honestly it wasn't an issue. I think it depends how heavy/light a sleeper you are but we never had any noise issues. Mind you they do seem to start working along the corridors very early. The best thing about the location is you soon get the hang of getting from one part of the ship to another without getting lost. Use the elevators nearest you to go to decks 3/4/5 for guest services/shops/bars and casino go along the corridor aft to next set of elevators for deck 3/4 my time dining restaurant 9/10/11 pool and lido/sport square/spa.:)

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

thanks for the advice!