Carnival Sunshine 8/8/15 8 day sailing review with pics

[jimbo5544]

A portion of the group

 

[anp25]

Chair Hogs Long a favorite topic here, I feel the need to comment on this subject for two reasons. The first is that the Sunshine specifically has been mentioned by many in let us say not so nice a way, specifically in this area. The second is that our experience with chair hogs seems to have grown over the last couple of years. We spent a lot of time in Serenity and I can tell you that kudos goes out to the staff. Around 10 they began marking stuff left out and then bagging stuff as well. YEAH! I also noticed they were doing in around the main pool. Made my day!

 

Jimbo, just got off the Sunshine Saturday (8/29/15) and the staff did not tag a single Chair Hog. Instead, to please me they just found extra loungers rather then move stiff. As you can tell, that made me a little upset especially the people that hogged all the Clam Shell loungers and the Hammocks.

[jimbo5544]

another

 

[jimbo5544]

Jimbo, just got off the Sunshine Saturday (8/29/15) and the staff did not tag a single Chair Hog. Instead, to please me they just found extra loungers rather then move stiff. As you can tell, that made me a little upset especially the people that hogged all the Clam Shell loungers and the Hammocks.

 

Wow, very interesting. Since you mentioned the clam shells, this was on the upper level? As I recall, the tagging I saw was mainly right around the pool area. I can understand you being upset.

[jimbo5544]

Sometimes plans don't work out quite like you think that they will. My daughter and son in law traveled with two of our grand children (we have 11). We had made plans for both of them to be in Camp Ocean. It was pirate night for the older one and the younger one had just really gotten used to going. It was all working according to plan........not quite.:rolleyes:

Edited September 1, 2015 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

The younger one,flat out refused to go, so we ended up taking him to the Steakhouse where they were nice enough to sit him on the end and even brought him some pasta. Here he is.

 

[jimbo5544]

His older sister was more than willing to go and had a great time. The part that did not quite as planned was that it got over early so the phone rang and they had to go get her. She ended up sitting with through dessert. Here she is.

 

[jimbo5544]

As we finished our dessert and coffee, we asked for the checks and my wife and I were told that a good friend in headquarters had prearranged to have our meal comped by him (he knew we always go to the Steakhouse, and this was in part to celebrate my birthday. We made sure we added something for the tip and the crew left, with I am sure couple sighs from the wait staff who did a wonderful job.

Edited September 1, 2015 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

My wife had about had it, so she went off to bed and I wandered around a bit with a couple of guys in the group, stopping to have a nightcap or two and then to turn in. I decided to check out was was playing on the Dive In Movies up on Lido and ended up sitting and watching almost all of the movie.

[jimbo5544]

Jimbo, just got off the Sunshine Saturday (8/29/15) and the staff did not tag a single Chair Hog. Instead, to please me they just found extra loungers rather then move stiff. As you can tell, that made me a little upset especially the people that hogged all the Clam Shell loungers and the Hammocks.

 

How was the rest of your cruise?

[anp25]

Sometimes plans don't work out quite like you think that they will. My daughter and son in law traveled with two of our grand children (we have 11). We had made plans for both of them to be in Camp Ocean. It was pirate night for teh older one and the younger one had just really gotten used to going. It was all working according to plan........not quite.:rolleyes:

 

Jimbo, that I know and I really don't expect perfection on any vacation I go on, but do get surprised when things go just right.

 

Anyway as you can see, I'm enjoying your review but what you experienced is not quite my experience.

 

I do remember the Destany and loved that ship but wanted to try the Sunshine after the upgrades. It might be my experience was the ship was full of kids and although they added cabin space, they took away space on the ship. I had anytime dining and you right, anytime dining people now eat in the aft dining room. The check in for that dining is check in was on the mezzanine then you had to walk two flights down to the dining after your pager notifies you your table is ready. I had to wait over an hour for my sitting meaning I missed some shows I wanted to see.

 

Of course I feel this was because the ship just had to many people and not enough capacity.

 

Despite these issues (Jimbo I'm sorry for posting on you site, but I feel your readers that are about to embark on the Sunshine might want to have this in mind) I had a good time. Plus you can see I have the Burmuda cruise set for next year. I still had a good time.

[jimbo5544]

Jimbo, that I know and I really don't expect perfection on any vacation I go on, but do get surprised when things go just right.

 

Anyway as you can see, I'm enjoying your review but what you experienced is not quite my experience.

 

I do remember the Destany and loved that ship but wanted to try the Sunshine after the upgrades. It might be my experience was the ship was full of kids and although they added cabin space, they took away space on the ship. I had anytime dining and you right, anytime dining people now eat in the aft dining room. The check in for that dining is check in was on the mezzanine then you had to walk two flights down to the dining after your pager notifies you your table is ready. I had to wait over an hour for my sitting meaning I missed some shows I wanted to see.

 

Of course I feel this was because the ship just had to many people and not enough capacity.

 

Despite these issues (Jimbo I'm sorry for posting on you site, but I feel your readers that are about to embark on the Sunshine might want to have this in mind) I had a good time. Plus you can see I have the Burmuda cruise set for next year. I still had a good time.

 

No worries, feel free to comment where ever you like. You are correct the check in station for anytime dining is up on 5 in the Oceans Plaza in front of the Alchemy Bar. It is a little quirky, and just one of those things, that sometimes happen in a whole ship makeover. As I think I had mentioned, we were surprised not to be in the Aft dining room. There certainly are more rooms on the Sunshine then when she was the Destiny. Not doubting you, but I talked to quite a few on our cruise and the longest wait was a little less than half an hour. I am sure in a couple of weeks there will be a lot less kids on all the ships.;)

[anp25]

No worries, feel free to comment where ever you like. You are correct the check in station for anytime dining is up on 5 in the Oceans Plaza in front of the Alchemy Bar. It is a little quirky, and just one of those things, that sometimes happen in a whole ship makeover. As I think I had mentioned, we were surprised not to be in the Aft dining room. There certainly are more rooms on the Sunshine then when she was the Destiny. Not doubting you, but I talked to quite a few on our cruise and the longest wait was a little less than half an hour. I am sure in a couple of weeks there will be a lot less kids on all the ships.;)

 

I agreed that there will be less kids in the coming weeks. Plus my next cruise on the Sunshine should be a lot less congested next October. That's unless I decide to change my itinerary.

[jimbo5544]

We awoke on out last day at sea and after visiting the gym one last tome met most of the crew already eating breakfast. I decided coffee was it for me (the food factor of the cruise had more than caught up with me:eek:) and then we headed up to Serenity. Mid morning I spent about 2 hours with the two grand kids in the water park (the water was fairly chilly). Another fact about the Sunshine. All of the pools om this ship, and the water park are fresh water. I don't even pretend to think back on what the Destiny had for pool water, but my experience on most ships is sea water.....

[4ready2cruz]

Enjoying you review. We sailed on the Sunshine this past spring break and had a wonderful time. I wanted to book the Curacao itinerary for my daughter's birthday next year but unfortunately, I don't have unlimited free time :-(. maybe in 2017, but she wants to go on the Vista.

 

I did enjoy the Sunshine but the one thing I missed was being able to eat breakfast outside (without having to bring it to the Lido deck).

 

I felt like the Havana Bar/JiJi/Cucina area was a secret only I knew about! It was hardly ever crowded!

 

I also loved Ocean Plaza/Alchemy Bar area and the 80's cover band they had playing. My husband and I are not night owls but we stayed up for them. It was like date night since the girls stayed in the cabin! (they don't like the 80's).

 

Keep it coming, your review is bringing back great memories!

[jimbo5544]

Enjoying you review. We sailed on the Sunshine this past spring break and had a wonderful time. I wanted to book the Curacao itinerary for my daughter's birthday next year but unfortunately, I don't have unlimited free time :-(. maybe in 2017, but she wants to go on the Vista.

 

I did enjoy the Sunshine but the one thing I missed was being able to eat breakfast outside (without having to bring it to the Lido deck).

 

I felt like the Havana Bar/JiJi/Cucina area was a secret only I knew about! It was hardly ever crowded!

 

I also loved Ocean Plaza/Alchemy Bar area and the 80's cover band they had playing. My husband and I are not night owls but we stayed up for them. It was like date night since the girls stayed in the cabin! (they don't like the 80's).

 

Keep it coming, your review is bringing back great memories!

 

Glad to assist in the memories department, it helps keep the cruise ever present in my head as well and is part of the reason that I do these. Sadly, I am winding down and will probably finish up in the next day or so. I do have some items that were brought up along the way that I will make sure to answer.

 

Your comment about eating outside are so true. It is one of those concessions that had to be made when redoing the ship. The band that played in Oceans Plaza did do a lot of 80's (and 70's:)) songs and we really enjoyed them.

[SKeighley]

May I add some additional info here about this area. Hopefully I am not jumping in too early here as you may be posting more later.

 

JiJi and Cucina del Capitano are back here also.

 

At lunch, JiJi has a line very similar to Monogolian Wok on other ships where you choose your noodles and veggies choices and the chefs will add your meat or seafood and sauce of choice and then cook it fresh for you.

 

On other side, at Cucina del Capitano, you are given a list of choices of pasta, sauce and ingredients. You mark your choices, hand the sheet in and your dish is made fresh for you. They also have Caesar salad and bread available here.

 

JiJi and Cucina del Capitano are extra fee venues for dinner for $15pp. Worth the extra fees.

 

I agree that it is much easier to find room here to eat. Many times, if we chose food from the buffet, we brought our food to meet and eat with our friends.

 

What is the charge for lunch?

[AmberTeka]

I have read your reviews and comments before. I really enjoyed your review.

 

We were on an 8 day cruise on the Sunshine to the Southern Caribbean over July 4 this summer. I too had read reviews that were very good and some that were very bad. I read about the overcrowding. Plumbing issues. Air conditioning issues.

 

So we sailed.

 

We are booked for a Christmas cruise on the Sunshine this Christmas. Our first one ever. I booked it because it goes to Bonaire and I want to return to that Island at least one more time. Usually Christmas is at home , but we keep our one and only darling grandchild after her Pre Kindergarten morning class is over, until we take her to her Mom's school where she teaches.

 

We did not want to mess up that schedule as it is working smoothly, so it was Christmas or not cruise.

I loved the ship. It never felt crowded to me except for the morning we docked in Curacao. The Lido deck..very early in the morning was crawling with people. Wall to wall.

I found the TASTE BAR set up on the other side of the Red Frog was a nice, quiet breakfast area/ They had eggs. french toast. grits. potatoes. Bacon. coffee. everything but NO TOAST.. if someone in your group is in shape......sending him or her up to the Lido Deck for toast and then running back to Deck Five. PERFECT breakfast area

 

Like you the Havana bar was where we ate when on the Lido Deck. Never crowded. We ate in the MDR. It was O.K. good service. The buffet one night. At Ji Ji's and liked it. At the Italian restaurant and loved it. Chicken pharm was very good.

 

I saw all of the shows. YOUR neighbor if she was on then shined. I enjoyed all of them.

 

ONLY issue. 10 dollar minimum on Roulette which irked my husband. But then he spent more time with me and I enjoyed that.

 

Your review brought back such nice memories and like you, I anticipate being on it again.And Like You THE FIFTH FLOOR IS ALWAYS YOUR FRIEND. sorry for the caps but it is that important. I read it on this board. remembered it. And we never had an issue getting to where we wanted to go.

 

Happy sails on your next cruise.

[mississauga]

What is the charge for lunch?

 

 

There are no extra charge for any of the lunch venues except if you order food from the Red Frog Pub or Bonsai. Their items are a la carte and each item has a charge. Not sure if the items are even available at lunch time but just mentioned it in case you could order at lunch. The other venues have no extra charge for lunch.

[jimbo5544]

I have read your reviews and comments before. I really enjoyed your review.

 

We were on an 8 day cruise on the Sunshine to the Southern Caribbean over July 4 this summer. I too had read reviews that were very good and some that were very bad. I read about the overcrowding. Plumbing issues. Air conditioning issues.

 

So we sailed.

 

We are booked for a Christmas cruise on the Sunshine this Christmas. Our first one ever. I booked it because it goes to Bonaire and I want to return to that Island at least one more time. Usually Christmas is at home , but we keep our one and only darling grandchild after her Pre Kindergarten morning class is over, until we take her to her Mom's school where she teaches.

 

We did not want to mess up that schedule as it is working smoothly, so it was Christmas or not cruise.

I loved the ship. It never felt crowded to me except for the morning we docked in Curacao. The Lido deck..very early in the morning was crawling with people. Wall to wall.

I found the TASTE BAR set up on the other side of the Red Frog was a nice, quiet breakfast area/ They had eggs. french toast. grits. potatoes. Bacon. coffee. everything but NO TOAST.. if someone in your group is in shape......sending him or her up to the Lido Deck for toast and then running back to Deck Five. PERFECT breakfast area

 

Like you the Havana bar was where we ate when on the Lido Deck. Never crowded. We ate in the MDR. It was O.K. good service. The buffet one night. At Ji Ji's and liked it. At the Italian restaurant and loved it. Chicken pharm was very good.

 

I saw all of the shows. YOUR neighbor if she was on then shined. I enjoyed all of them.

 

ONLY issue. 10 dollar minimum on Roulette which irked my husband. But then he spent more time with me and I enjoyed that.

 

Your review brought back such nice memories and like you, I anticipate being on it again.And Like You THE FIFTH FLOOR IS ALWAYS YOUR FRIEND. sorry for the caps but it is that important. I read it on this board. remembered it. And we never had an issue getting to where we wanted to go.

 

Happy sails on your next cruise.

Thanks for the nice words. I had been a little intimidated in writing a review (seeing some of the really good ones that are done here, some still and others who have moved on :() and finally one day decided to do one. The real surprise in doing such (for me at least) was how much I enjoyed writing it. The reliving of the cruise through doing the review allowed me to hand on to our cruise a while longer before it settles down with all of the other memories.

 

As you can tell from my review, we really enjoyed this one and more specifically the Sunshine. The apprehension (more so me than my wife) of having read some of the not too good things here about this ship, was weighing on me, not so much from my own personal perspective but more of what our group felt. The proof is always in the pudding, near the end of the cruise (actually at the cocktail party in our room before going to the steakhouse) there is a picture I posted of me (on the right) talking to someone in our group who sailed with us on a previous cruise last year on Carnival who was.....well.....let's say not so much in love at that particular time with the Carnival product (which is fine, you can't please everyone all the time). He joined us again to be part of the group and made it clear that was the only reason.

 

During that discussion pictured, he was expressing to me just how much he was impressed and won over with both this ship, the staff and Carnival as a product.... big change.

 

While I don't think it is front burner to do what they did to the Destiny to either the Victory or the Triumph, I for one would applaud them if they changed their mind (again) on doing so. Lastly, next up for us in February aboard the Sunshine again. You enjoy your future cruises as well!

 

[dotheyes]

thanks for all the info and for a great review

dot & Harry

[mississauga]

Thank you for your wonderful review and taking the time to do it. It is a lot of work and much appreciated by all who read it. It is nice to hear that you enjoy posting it as much as we enjoy reading it.

 

We did the 16 days TA and are looking forward to our 21 days journey cruises in Nov and Dec. Your review brought back great memories of our time on the Sunshine.

 

Always glad to hear when people enjoyed their cruise.:D

[jimbo5544]

thanks for all the info and for a great review

dot & Harry

 

Thanks for the kind words. Great might not only be in too large a font but overstated (but appreciated);)

[jimbo5544]

Thank you for your wonderful review and taking the time to do it. It is a lot of work and much appreciated by all who read it. It is nice to hear that you enjoy posting it as much as we enjoy reading it.

 

We did the 16 days TA and are looking forward to our 21 days journey cruises in Nov and Dec. Your review brought back great memories of our time on the Sunshine.

 

Always glad to hear when people enjoyed their cruise.:D

 

Thank you very much, kind of sad to seeing it winding down. Two journey cruises.....wow. Have a TA on our bucket list....OK, my bucket list. MY wife's not so much, she is afraid of rough seas. Interesting, because I have been more affected but a couple of particularly rough sea days and not her.........

 

Enjoy your Journey cruises and let us know your thoughts when you return.

[jimbo5544]

Thank you for your wonderful review and taking the time to do it. It is a lot of work and much appreciated by all who read it. It is nice to hear that you enjoy posting it as much as we enjoy reading it.

 

We did the 16 days TA and are looking forward to our 21 days journey cruises in Nov and Dec. Your review brought back great memories of our time on the Sunshine.

 

Always glad to hear when people enjoyed their cruise.:D

 

Your nickname here, which is obviously based upon where you come from (my mother always said I was so bright that is why she called me son;), is that an Indian name?