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

[jimbo5544]

I can see your priorities are in place with this First Ship Photo. :):):):)

LOL, you got it. Also was my first stop (which is the norm as well)

[jimbo5544]

Sounds cool. If you don't mind, would you post it. I'm curious to see it.

:)

Here you go!

[Barbluvstocruz]

Here you go!

 

Cool. Thanks! :)

[jimbo5544]

No Problem, my pleasure

[jimbo5544]

We spent the last morning around in Serenity and also spent about an hour and a half in the water park with my two grand children sailing with us. Can someone say cold water :eek:

 

At lunch time we headed to our normal spot and felt it was only fitting to have a guys burger (promising myself not to go near a scale for at least two weeks). After lunch back up to serenity where our group was getting the mot out of their last sea day. This happened to be the warmest day of the cruise, and by 2:30, I though up the white flag and we decided to head back to the cabin and enjoy it for a while before dinner.

[jimbo5544]

After sitting out on the balcony for a while we decided to pack. Packing for us is one of those signs that our cruise is coming to an end. We tend to due it during the last afternoon and then do last minute adds later in the evening before putting our bags out (if we are not doing self assist).

 

One of the things we always debate is whether or not to use luggage express in ports where we can. My wife has qualms about it....I have none.;) It did not apply to this sailing as we were renting 3 mini vans to drive back to the airport(s). One was going to Orlando and 2 to Tampa.

[jimbo5544]

We also always debate on how to disembark. If it is just us, we sometimes do self assist depending on the circumstances. These circumstances could range from an early flight, to we parked at the terminal and want to get on the road....etc. In this case, our flight times were far enough out we just took the normal route (really for the group we were leading).

[applefangirl]

There you go!

 

Thanks again for your help with posting pics. This is my youngest DS and me on the sunset cruise. Hope to see you on a cruise someday!

 

[jimbo5544]

Thanks again for your help with posting pics. This is my youngest DS and me on the sunset cruise. Hope to see you on a cruise someday!

 

 

My pleasure, I knew I remembered you guys from the boat. Loved that excursion, would do it again in a heartbeat! Hope to see you guys again on a cruise as well.

Edited September 4, 2015 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

I am going to hit on a subject that may still have some raw nerve endings here. I wanted to address it it up front by saying that I bring it up as informational and that it was part of our cruise experience. This is in regards to the new return guest party for Platinum and Diamond members.

 

We received our invitation to this the previous day and I would have taken a picture of the invitation but they collected it at the door and..... as I will go into it, we totally forgot about the party.

[jimbo5544]

Around 4;10, our phone rings in our room. We look at each other, both of us shrug and I answer the phone. It is my sister in law asking where we are (they are already inside the party. We think about it and decide to go, basically to see what had changed. The party was held in the Liquid Lounge. There was someone standing by the door collecting the invitations and greeting everyone. My guess is that there was about 200 people there (we had learned at the Diamond party that there was about 25 Diamond's on the ship - significantly higher than our past experiences). The 200 is higher than we normally see for Platinum as well.

Edited September 4, 2015 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

They (Carnival) were def. trying to give a different atmosphere about the party. There were some contests where you could guess at some things (officer ranking was one) and they had a hard lemon aide stand and some upgrades to the food. The still showed the same video of all the ships and the footage of Ted Arison. The party (a bit of a stretch) was ok and ended about 4:45. We headed up to get ready for dinner.

 

I don't know f it is me, but the last dinner on almost every cruise is the most relaxed with the staff. They were more jovial and entertaining and we had a good time on our last meal. After dinner we wandered around some and were in the atrium and a couple of guys were waiting for our wives doing some last minute shopping (really??:confused:) and I was leaning against the railing looking down into the Lobby bar area. There were two women who were with their kids (teens, maybe 5 in total) and the women had either printed at the kiosks or at guest services, their sign and sail bills. The two women sat at the bar and ordered drinks as they scanned the bills. One woman , looked to be in shock and as I watched, she flipped page by page by page thru the bill. I lost count at 33 pages... I wish I had my camera with me. I am sure we thought it funnier than she did.:cool:

[Cruiser 2 too]

Great review! Thank you for sharing. Photos were great also.

[jimbo5544]

Great review! Thank you for sharing. Photos were great also.

 

Thanks a lot! I will wrap up on Monday. I still have about 25 ship photos that I want to put up here.

[jimbo5544]

After watching with some amusement the deer caught in the head light look on their faces, we moved onto the Piano bar and listened and enjoyed one last time. During break time, we headed back out to Ocean's Plaza and listened there for a while as well. Finally, with a sigh of reservation we headed back up to our room. I spent a good last time out on the balcony enjoying as the ship was making it's way back to Port Canaveral. There were two ships that I could see heading in the same direction, but too far off in the darkness for me to make out which cruise line they were with.

[jimbo5544]

I awoke early the next morning (always do on the last day of a cruise, better than an alarm clock) and watched as the she ship entered the harbor and made its way to its berth. Then went in and showered and we headed one last time down to breakfast. After a quick bite, we headed back up to get our things and ran into our daughter and two grand kids who had coming looking for us to say goodbye (they were doing Carnival transfers).

[jimbo5544]

We had prearranged for all of our group that was departing with us to meet in the lounge set aside for Platinum members, thanks to some hard work by the groups coordinator. Everyone showed up on time (yeah) and we quickly were ushered back through the dining room and off of the Sunshine.

 

As side note, I think Carnival has improved the debarkation process and seems to be working as good as it can be.

 

We all met up outside, said some goodbye's to some of the group and then our sub group made our way over to the Dollar van to get our rentals for the trip back to the airport. Hoping for a better scenario then we had with Alamo on the way over and dropping the vans off.

[jimbo5544]

The van picked us up in 20 minutes and we were on the road 15 after that. Wind down was already kicking in, one of the worst things about cruising. Tonight, as requested, I will post the other pictures I have of the Sunshine, hopefully not doubles of what I have already posted. Some of these are from the naming ceremony in New Orleans, but of things I did not get a picture of on the cruise.

[jimbo5544]

I do have some final thoughts on the Sunshine and also on our sailing. As most of you know, I am a pretty frequent sailor on Carnival (this was our 30th cruise on a Carnival ship as well as a frequent poster here. Th e Sunshine has a rich, colorful history dating back to when she was the Destiny and at one time was the largest cruise ship afloat, the first to break the 100,000 ton marker in the industry.

[jimbo5544]

From there being the grand dame of the entire cruise world to sailing 3,4, and 5 day cruises out of Miami was not the journey cruise everyone had hoped for. Being the first in a class always has challenges as well. Ship builders learn from their mistakes and common area on the Destiny was one of the hings they tweaked along the way.

 

When they announced the plans to evolve the Destiny into the Sunshine, I like a lot of people here had some reservations about doing something on this grand a scale. RCCL tried something different with MOTS (and some later ships) different in nature. The first sailings of the sunshine (3 sailing late I might add) and still being not quite done, did little to alleviate those fears.

 

Fast forward to when we received an invite to go down to New Orleans and a sleepover on the Sunshine for the naming ceremony. I was shocked at how much they had changed the ship and specifically in two areas, Serenity and the Havana Bar area. We began formulating plans for sailing on her (probably with a group). Those plans took a left turn when suddenly, they announced she was moving from New Orleans to Port Canaveral in a swap with the Dream. It took from then till August 8th for us to get back on the Sunshine.

 

[jimbo5544]

While we had a lot of excitement about the ship, the new venues (food and otherwise), we did have some reservations about talking our group who had sailed the Breeze onto the Sunshine. I can tell you that those fears were for naught. They (and we) loved the ship. Is she perfect, hell no, but I have yet to find the perfect ship. The Havana Bar area on Lido and the 4th floor are true improvements as is Serenity (yeah I get the fact that is is near the main pool, so it is on other ships as well). We really did not feel more crowded than any Conquest class ship we have sailed. Is it obvious that they took away some common space for cabins (most noteworthy floor 3 under the Liquid Lounge and the added space on 11 and 12)? Yes it is, but we really liked the ship. Compared to what she once was and now is, it is a win win for Carnival.

 

We will sail the Sunshine again in February and have no qualms about recommending her to others.

[scm200]

thanks for the great review, we sail on the sunshine in October and can't wait to get on the ship - any other pictures you have would be appreciated, but she looks like another Carnival Fun Ship - and I am sure she will be a fun ship for us too.

[jimbo5544]

thanks for the great review, we sail on the sunshine in October and can't wait to get on the ship - any other pictures you have would be appreciated, but she looks like another Carnival Fun Ship - and I am sure she will be a fun ship for us too.

 

Thanks for the kind words! I do have some more pictures that I will upload. Probably not till tomorrow tho..... I think you will enjoy the Sunshine.

[jimbo5544]

Some general observations.... The first is that Guys on the Sunshine was by far the least crowded of any ship we have been on that had a Guys on it. The A/C in the Captain's Suite (granted the A/C room is right behind the bedroom) was the coolest of any room we have stayed in. There were 7 ceiling registers, but we constantly turned up the temp during the cruise. We bring a little digital thermometer and with the gauge up three notches, the temp in the room was 66 degrees. One of the things I do not understand is why you have to wait for popcorn until the Dive in movie starts (I love popcorn:D). Our last couple of cruises, the Dive In movie has been near to capacity for the late seating when I have looked.

[GrannyFlamingo]

I'm Sssoooo worried. We booked a sunshine cruise as the family cruise. And then I read all these posts of it being so crowded. I really want the kids and grandkids to have a fabulous time. That's why we booked this ship. We won't care, but I hope we can figure it our for them to have a great time