MY Sunshine 9/06 thru 9/11 with no pictures

[bobnbetty]

The following is strictly my feelings about the Sunshine. We have been on multiple Carnival cruises over the past 10 years and so far every single cruise we have taken has been on a different ship because we like to try a different one each time. Will continue to do this and not return to cruise the Sunshine again.

 

For several months I have read the positive as well as the negative reviews of others. I did go with a very open mind and this is how I feel and thought I would share.

 

We did accomplish our goal for the cruise and had a great time... doing our own thing, what we wanted to do, when we wanted to as well as rest and relaxation.

 

Crew...with the exception of a very, very nice Indonesian young lady that was assigned to the buffet, we thought the crew overall was not friendly or outgoing. Hardly ever saw anyone with a smile on their face unless talking with other crew members. First time that I have never seen our cabin steward on the initial cruise day and did not do so til Tuesday morning, two days after the cruise started. At that time he said hello only. On Wednesday evening he introduced himself and asked us what our names were so he could pronounce them correctly and did so Thursday. Never saw him on Friday morning.

 

Common areas...very small, do realize that this ship is almost 20 years old and probably when it was built, it was considered large but to now carry over (announced by Donkey) 3600 guests and over 1200 crew members, it was very congested in many areas. The Lido deck pool was unbelievably small, never saw such a small pool on a cruise ship before. You could hardly see the water because so many people in it, the two hot tubs were used mostly by kids, many kids - very few adults. Could not believe that they had the cigar/pipe smoking area directly over the main pool area. Some previous reviewers have complained about the inability to get a lounger because of chair hoggers, that might be because they have a lack of chairs. Not enough and what they have are literally on top of each other. As far as chair hoggers, did not see that to be an issue. The serenity area was great but also with a small pool and it too was crowded at times. The walking area on the Lido deck was really small and narrow on either side going in or out of the buffet area. The lobby area was also very small and had very little entertainment there. Also surprised that there was no open deck that you could walk the entire length of the ship from back to front or around.

 

Meals...I thought they had a great selection of places that you can dine. Loved the Havana Bar area for noon meals. Thought overall the food was average, except one evening they had excellent prime rib on the buffet. I was surprised that on the buffet for the evening meals they offered very little variety to choose from. It was better choice wise at lunch and especially breakfast. What I was most disappointed in was the temperature of the food. Most of the time it was like lukewarm or not even warm. I was surprised especially with the food on the "warmers" in the buffet, thought they would keep the food warmer then they did. My hottest meal was from the Italian restaurant and was made to order pasta with meat sauce, sausage and mushrooms. It was delicious and so tasty! We were assigned to the Sunset dining room and we had a nice table with a view. Had wonderful tablemates...enjoyable conversations.

 

Casino...spent time some time there every evening and was surprised that overall that the smell of smoke was there but it was not overwhelming unless you were right next to someone smoking. For the size of the ship, I thought the casino was very large with many slots and more than average table games. Also thought it was great that they had a variety of table games and just not mostly Black Jack and Texas Hold'um.

 

Entertainment...evening shows with music were enjoyable overall, a little loud at times especially the Epic Rock show. There were a couple of great singers in the shows. Most other scheduled activities we did not attend unless we just happened to walk by or be in the area. Donkey, the cruise director, seemed to be okay. Did not see a lot of him other than before the nightly shows and he was usually funny. He did make several announcements each day as to what was going on that day or for some other specific reason.

 

Cabin...by choice and because it was a short cruise to speak of, we decided to take an inside room this time. It was on the 7th deck, mid ship and starboard. It was a great location, not far from the elevators and never heard any noise other than kids running down the hallway late at night hollering or very late night loud adults talking. Size wise, very small, smaller than any other inside room we have ever had. Hardly any space for anything. Not even a chair, just a small vanity seat in front of the mirror. Bathroom was tight. Was amused that because of the angle the toilet was on, when using it you had one foot in the shower!! We had friends that had a regular balcony and their bathroom was no different.

 

Weather...great!!! Overcast at times but mostly sunny and hot.

 

Islands...have been before many times. The only real change that we saw was in Freeport. Still very industrial where you dock, but since our last visit there about three years ago, now local vendors are set up once you go thru the gate towards the cabs etc..

[lfresa]

I just got off the same cruise. I feel the same way as you do on a lot of points. I did have fun on the slides I am almost 50 and my husband is 55 boy did I fly out of the slide lol. I don't think it was worth getting rid of the back pool for this. The lido pool was so small plus so many kids in there so I went to the serenity but you had to be here by 8 I think to get a chair or earlier. On the port days if I got there at noon I could find a couple. The pool if you want to call It that was nice a refreshing. The other serenity decks would have been great if they had another pool it got too hot up here without a way to cool off.

 

I found the sea day hardly had anything besides bingo, and so tired of the marriage shows with the same corny questions. I am a platinum member so I have seen this way to many times, it's a shame if they changed the questions up a bit it would feel like a new show I didn't even bother going this time.

 

Comedians were good but one night we went 45 min early and still had a hard time getting a seat. The live music mid aft 5 wS nice at night, lived the disco theme one night sorry I missed the 80,s night. I wish they would show movies during they day somewhere for adults who would like to get out of the sun for a couple of hours. The shows at night were geared more or less for kids which is fine but would like another alternative during the day.

 

I hit the casino the first night for 280 then nothing after that but I came home with my money. Not enough .25 machines mostly 1 cent . Oh well, my husband did good on let it ride so we came home with their money.

 

We had anytime dining. First night we ate early had table 404 which was awesome, the next two nights service was awful in another area. Bar waiter never came, water not refilled, etc. ate at the Italian place one night and it was worth it. Last night back at the dining room but requested the area we wee at the first night, so we had good service.

 

Food in lido marketplace we an awful set up. Kind of hard to line up for food when you have to go around a square for food. We would get our food and eat in the Havana bar area . Never had to wait for a table there and so peaceful.

 

Cabin 6344 , awesome, great area. Cabin steward was excellent but I found the bed really hard. Our shower curtain was to short in width so we would get water everywhere plus it did not drain well.

 

If anyone wants the fun times for the 5 day I will scan them at work on Monday so I can email them out. Just send me a message with your email address .

 

Oh the cruise director donkey was fine had a lot of energy. I was off the ship and through customs at 7:15 am ( priority helped ).

Edited September 13, 2015 by lfresa

[lagienomai]

^ Not sure how to send a msg but I would love the copy of the fun times. I am sailing in 5 weeks.

[ChrisNCruiser]

Hi there,

Thanks for your offer to send out Fun Times for the five-day on the Sunshine. I'm taking a five-day on Sept 27th and would love to see the Fun Times. If your offer still stands, please email them to newpherchris at yahoo dot com. Thanks! :-)

[MACUQUI58]

We were also on this cruise and have different feelings with the previous reviews. We have cruised NCL, RCCL, and Disney, both my husband and I thought this was one of the best cruise we have been on.

 

Cabin: We had a balcony on deck 6 and it was a nice size, it had a king bed, vanity, sofa bed and coffee table. The balcony had 2 chairs and a small table. Plenty of closet space. Our cabin attendant introduced himself on the very first day and asked if we found our cabin clean. He also asked our names and our dining time. We saw him at least once or twice a day and always friendly. Walking down the hallways if a cabin attendant was there or we ran into a crew staff they always said hello and how was your day.

 

Pools: We were always pool hopping between the Serenity and Lido pools always found chairs with no problem.

 

Cruise Staff: Extremely friendly always said hello with a smile and we saw plenty of them during the cruise.

 

Dining: We mainly had breakfast and lunch on the Lido Deck and Havana Bar enjoyed every meal. We had Your Time Dining, had a great table with wonderful servers. We got the same table each night. Dinner was very enjoyable. I am a very picky eater and ate things that had never tried before. If I didn't like something the server would bring me something else. Remember this is a cruise ship serving thousands of meals, the food is never going to be as hot as the one you cook at home.

 

Entertainment: It was fun, they always had different things going on. As far as the guests on board the ship had 3006 guest not 3600 as Donkey stated. The shows were good, Epic Rock was the best and in any show you attend they are always going to be loud.

 

Ship: I had read other reviews before I sailed that there was no A/C, let me share some on that review. Our cabin was freezing each night we had to lower the temperature. The public areas were also cold specially deck 5, were Ocean Plaza is. If you go to deck 5 that will take you through the entire ship from front to back.

 

We will sail the Sunshine again, do not be afraid to sail this ship. We were supposed to sail last October and because of all the bad reviews we decided not to, but a couple of co-workers sailed and said they had a blast so we decided to give it a try and glad we did.

 

We have over 50 cruises on different cruise lines so we kind of know what to expect and we got more on this cruise than what we expected.

 

Hope you have as much fun as we did when you sail the Sunshine...

[ObstructedView2]

Thank you for your review. There certainly seems to be far more negatives than positives from passengers during the past year or so.

 

I believe when it comes to the Sunshine I'll stick to the ('When in Doubt, Don't') philosophy...

 

With all of the time & money that is put into a cruise, the Sunshine is just not worth it.

 

 

:cool:

[MACUQUI58]

Thank you for your review. There certainly seems to be far more negatives than positives from passengers during the past year or so.

 

I believe when it comes to the Sunshine I'll stick to the ('When in Doubt, Don't') philosophy...

 

With all of the time & money that is put into a cruise, the Sunshine is just not worth it.

 

 

:cool:

Just keep in mind that some of the negative reviews could just be passengers that will never be content and you will be missing out.....

[Podna's]

Thank you for your review. There certainly seems to be far more negatives than positives from passengers during the past year or so.

 

 

 

I believe when it comes to the Sunshine I'll stick to the ('When in Doubt, Don't') philosophy...

 

 

 

With all of the time & money that is put into a cruise, the Sunshine is just not worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

So you've never sailed on the Sunshine but you say it's not worth it? I thank my lucky stars everyday I never ever go by the reviews, especially on CC. I would have missed out on two wonderful vacations on the Sunshine. Hopefully #3 will be in my near future.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Podna's

[bar1068]

So you've never sailed on the Sunshine but you say it's not worth it? I thank my lucky stars everyday I never ever go by the reviews' date=' especially on CC. I would have missed out on two wonderful vacations on the Sunshine. Hopefully #3 will be in my near future.[/quote']

 

Such is the beauty of cruise critic. If its negative, it's believed, if positive, can't be true, especially where this ship is concerned. Like you, I will never make a cruise decision based on anything posted here. I read stuff here for the "entertainment" value, not for anything useful when planning a cruise. We've also cruised twice on Sunshine and have a 3rd booked for next April.

[lfresa]

I did enjoy the cruise sorry if I sounded like I didn't. My previous cruise before this was the Dream ( which was my favorite ) and I have cruised with carnival over 10 times, I just wanted to mention some things I noticed on this one. It makes me laugh when you post on here, if you post anything negative you always get a reply to the fact that a they never cruised before, didn't do their research, hard to please etc. We are any easy going couple and just gave our views which of course won't match anyone else's. I will get the funtimes out to who asked in a couple of days. also, great bunch of people on this cruise. The kids on board were so behaved. Don't hesitate to go in this one I would go again just wished they would up entertainment in sea days during the day other than that it was great.

 

To the person who said some are never content when your making observations on your experience you should not judge anyone by their opinion. seriously , lol

Edited September 13, 2015 by lfresa

[AmberTeka]

We were also on this cruise and have different feelings with the previous reviews. We have cruised NCL, RCCL, and Disney, both my husband and I thought this was one of the best cruise we have been on.

 

Cabin: We had a balcony on deck 6 and it was a nice size, it had a king bed, vanity, sofa bed and coffee table. The balcony had 2 chairs and a small table. Plenty of closet space. Our cabin attendant introduced himself on the very first day and asked if we found our cabin clean. He also asked our names and our dining time. We saw him at least once or twice a day and always friendly. Walking down the hallways if a cabin attendant was there or we ran into a crew staff they always said hello and how was your day.

 

Pools: We were always pool hopping between the Serenity and Lido pools always found chairs with no problem.

 

Cruise Staff: Extremely friendly always said hello with a smile and we saw plenty of them during the cruise.

 

Dining: We mainly had breakfast and lunch on the Lido Deck and Havana Bar enjoyed every meal. We had Your Time Dining, had a great table with wonderful servers. We got the same table each night. Dinner was very enjoyable. I am a very picky eater and ate things that had never tried before. If I didn't like something the server would bring me something else. Remember this is a cruise ship serving thousands of meals, the food is never going to be as hot as the one you cook at home.

 

Entertainment: It was fun, they always had different things going on. As far as the guests on board the ship had 3006 guest not 3600 as Donkey stated. The shows were good, Epic Rock was the best and in any show you attend they are always going to be loud.

 

Ship: I had read other reviews before I sailed that there was no A/C, let me share some on that review. Our cabin was freezing each night we had to lower the temperature. The public areas were also cold specially deck 5, were Ocean Plaza is. If you go to deck 5 that will take you through the entire ship from front to back.

 

We will sail the Sunshine again, do not be afraid to sail this ship. We were supposed to sail last October and because of all the bad reviews we decided not to, but a couple of co-workers sailed and said they had a blast so we decided to give it a try and glad we did.

 

We have over 50 cruises on different cruise lines so we kind of know what to expect and we got more on this cruise than what we expected.

 

Hope you have as much fun as we did when you sail the Sunshine...

 

 

Totally agree. We read the reviews. gritted our teeth and went as the port is close to our home.Had a blast. My cabin Stewart REY. she was the best. People better be treating her right..because she is wonderful. Show were great. We were in one of the new Inside but not inside cabins. Loved them. Nice bathroom. Minifridge for the diet sodas

 

Booked again for Christmas.

[sassy~one]

I would love those sunshine funtimes. Im sailing the sunshine for 21 days. I do not know how to send a message.

 

dfurner at hotmail. com

[bingo3]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. It was fair and your experiences, not someone else's. I read reviews so I know better what to expect, what to watch for, tips, etc. I think it helps with expectations. Not sure why people even read them if they do not find them helpful.

 

I will be on the Sunshine May 2016 and am excited about it. Thanks for all of the perspectives! It helps me better plan my trip! :D

deb

[lfresa]

Ok, I have the funtimes, email me at fresa@haskins.yale.edu and I will get them out to who ever wants them. Lisa

 

I have newpher and dfurn ... email addresses so far

[summersigh]

You say you did enjoy the cruise ... that wasn't the tone of the review IMHO. It sounds like it was terrible. I'll bold in red the reason for my saying that:

I just got off the same cruise. I feel the same way as you do on a lot of points.(much of which was negative and the op advised not to travel on Sunshine) I did have fun on the slides I am almost 50 and my husband is 55 boy did I fly out of the slide lol. I don't think it was worth getting rid of the back pool for this. The lido pool was so small plus so many kids in there so I went to the serenity but you had to be here by 8 I think to get a chair or earlier. On the port days if I got there at noon I could find a couple. The pool if you want to call It that was nice a refreshing. The other serenity decks would have been great if they had another pool it got too hot up here without a way to cool off.

 

I found the sea day hardly had anything besides bingo, and so tired of the marriage shows with the same corny questions. I am a platinum member so I have seen this way to many times, it's a shame if they changed the questions up a bit it would feel like a new show I didn't even bother going this time.

 

Comedians were good but one night we went 45 min early and still had a hard time getting a seat. The live music mid aft 5 wS nice at night, lived the disco theme one night sorry I missed the 80,s night. I wish they would show movies during they day somewhere for adults who would like to get out of the sun for a couple of hours. The shows at night were geared more or less for kids which is fine but would like another alternative during the day.

 

I hit the casino the first night for 280 then nothing after that but I came home with my money. Not enough .25 machines mostly 1 cent . Oh well, my husband did good on let it ride so we came home with their money.

 

We had anytime dining. First night we ate early had table 404 which was awesome, the next two nights service was awful in another area. Bar waiter never came, water not refilled, etc. ate at the Italian place one night and it was worth it. Last night back at the dining room but requested the area we wee at the first night, so we had good service.

 

Food in lido marketplace we an awful set up. Kind of hard to line up for food when you have to go around a square for food. We would get our food and eat in the Havana bar area . Never had to wait for a table there and so peaceful.

 

Cabin 6344 , awesome, great area. Cabin steward was excellent but I found the bed really hard. Our shower curtain was to short in width so we would get water everywhere plus it did not drain well.

If anyone wants the fun times for the 5 day I will scan them at work on Monday so I can email them out. Just send me a message with your email address .

 

Oh the cruise director donkey was fine had a lot of energy. I was off the ship and through customs at 7:15 am ( priority helped ).

 

Your positives seemed to really be outweighed by the negatives.:confused::(

[BIG GUY]

We were also on this cruise and have no complaints at all. We had a great time. The only things we didn't like were the Nassau and Freeport stops. We stayed on Sunshine up in Serenity and noticed alot of people felt the same way. We could have done Half Moon Cay 3 times.

[lfresa]

summersigh, Seriously???? I guess you have nothing better to do today then critique someone's review and highlight in red. I am looking forward to reading your review in the spring.

Edited September 16, 2015 by lfresa

[scm200]

summersigh, Seriously???? I guess you have nothing better to do today then critique someone's review and highlight in red. I am looking forward to reading your review in the spring.

 

cool - is this thread going to become popcorn worthy?

[KatieCharlotte]

I appreciate reviews with pros and cons so I can plan accordingly. Personally, I've rarely felt the buffet was hot enough and one of the benefits of the Sunshine is the variety of other options for lunch. We prefer MDR for dinner and an occasional brunch.

 

One question I have for everyone who has talked about crowds at the comedy club -- How early would you arrive specifically for the family-friendly comedy?

 

Re seaday entertainment -- Was there plenty of trivia and similar games for my DH?

[crusinpsychRN]

Any mini fridges?

 

Where do they do trivia?

 

There is no excuse for tepid food. When I've had that happen I send it back. Since then the first night I tell the server I've had issues with tepid food and I would like to have hot food hot, cold food cold and don't have an issue.

Edited September 16, 2015 by crusinpsychRN

[crusinpsychRN]

Just went to cruisedeckplans.com to see pics of the pools. How funny! They are really, really small!

 

I wonder if I ask the steward for a chair if I'd get one for the cabin.

[CammieO]

I sent you an email just now. I'm a little late in asking but if you still have the files I'd love to have them. Sailing in 30 days with my mom and sister who are first time cruisers and I want everything to be perfect for them. :) Thanks for offering to send the fun times out to everyone!