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Carnival Sunshine 8 Day Picture Review with Funtimes, Menus and much more!


Seany527
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we have anytime dining. is the check in across from the computer hub???

 

Yes it is.

 

What is the Havana Bar?

 

It's another themed bar like the Red Frog Rum Bar. They serve small finger foods and have live music at night.

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Thanks for all the feedback everyone, glad you are enjoying it.

 

To refresh everyone's memory, we had just finished unpacking and were about to head down to the Muster Drill. The Sunshine by far took the longest amount of time to complete the drill but still, the wait was not unbearable. An older woman did almost “faint” I guess you could say, and had to be brought to the Lime Light Lounge while her husband still waited at his muster station. During the drill we observed a moment of silence for those affected by September 11th. For the most part, everyone remained silent but you could tell people were getting antsy toward the end. Typical. Once muster was over we headed to our balcony to enjoy it for some brief moments and then headed up to the Lido deck to see the action. Here are some pictures of leaving Port Canaveral as well as the sail away party. In all honesty, I felt the sail away was pretty uneventful. Miami has the beautiful buildings, the beaches, and the pricy yachts. New York has the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island- but I felt Cape Canaveral was missing something. In the end it was really no big deal at all, although my mom later told me she was waiting for a sail away photo before I lost cell service. Unfortunately, there was nothing too inspiring to take a photo of.

 

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After the sail away we finished unpacking and getting ready for dinner. One aspect of the Sunshine that was disappointing was the lack of an interactive TV in the stateroom. This meant no viewing of the menus prior to dinner from your cabin and not being able to view your Sail and Sign account either. If you do wish to view your charges, you can either go to guest services or use one of the interactive kiosks located on deck 3 starboard side or deck 5 port side. I do have to say that with only two kiosks, the lines were surprisingly very short. I always waited less than 5 minutes. Here is a picture of one of the kiosks

 

 

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It’s very easy to use. The first time you slide your card it asks you a series of questions to verify you are the owner of the card. Then you create a PIN and answer a security code question. After your first use you just enter your pin each time you slide your card. You have the option to view your account on the terminal or print a summary of your charges and take it with you. The whole process should take less than 60 seconds. Unfortunately, some people struggled a little.

 

Due to the lack of an interactive TV, those who wanted to view the dinner menu’s beforehand could head to either the Sunrise or Sunset restaurant as the menus were posted outside each morning and stayed up throughout the day.

 

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This is actually where I took the photos of the menu’s each day. It was much easier than trying to take a picture while at the table. And here are the menus for the first night of dinner.

Edited by Seany527
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First, is the everyday menu. It’s pretty self-explanatory- this menu is severed everyday.

 

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Next is the Cruise the Vineyards Wine Package.

 

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And finally the daily menu, with dessert

 

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We elected to have early seating for this cruise. I had emailed the Maitre d’ about a week and a half before our sail date and requested to be seated in the Sunrise Restaurant. I was not at all impressed with the one story Sunset Restaurant and I wanted to avoid it, if possible. I had previously been in the midship dining room on the Glory and just didn’t like it. I much prefer the grand chandeliers that are featured in the aft restaurant. I did not receive a response from him but we were seated in the Sunrise Restaurant. Btw, if you do wish to send an email as well, the Sunshine Maitre d's email address is shmaitred@carnival.com. Don’t forget to say ‘thank you!’

 

Alright, so we arrived at dinner and were introduced to our wait team. There was head waiter, Theo, and his two assistants, Juan and Carl. Theo was a worker, he hustled each and every night. Carnival is lucky to have him on their ships. He gave some of the most efficient service we had ever experienced in a Carnival Dining Room. Some nights we were done with our dessert and on our way before 7pm. That’s my kind of service- very fast paced. Juan and Carl were great as well but nothing compared to Theo. I will say, however, I never saw Juan crack a smile. He always had a stern look to him. Oh well, at least he got the job done.

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For an appetizer, Matt and I both got the heart of iceberg lettuce. Looking back, I’m not too sure why we would both get a salad as our first appetizer of the cruise. I prefer to go for things with a little more substanance. Either way, the salad was good and tasted, well, like a salad with Ranch dressing normally tastes.

 

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Next up were our main entrees- I tried something new that I have never ordered before- the linguini with Italian sausage, bell peppers and mushrooms. This entree was outstanding. It was so flavorful and the sauce had a really nice taste to it. There was a good amount of sausage and peppers as well. The mushrooms lacked a little bit, but that was fine for me as I don’t care for them anyway.

 

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Matt ordered the sweet and sour shrimp which he thought was very good.

 

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For dessert we both ordered the Creme Brûlée. This is by far my most favorite dessert on the whole cruise. It’s actually my most favorite dessert even on land. No one can make it as good as Carnival can. I’m sure those of you who have never tried it, now will try it and not be impressed at all. I don’t know, for some reason this dessert hits the spot perfectly. Yum.

 

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We were pleased dinner was so fast, (out by just a few minutes after 7pm) we wanted to catch the Welcome Aboard Show at 7:30. I don’t necessarily enjoy the show, but I feel it’s a good way to get to know your Cruise Director. For this part of the cruise we had Chris “Donkey” Salazar as our Cruise Director. - Days 7, 8 and disembarkation day we had a new CD- Chris Loveland. There was no announcement given that we would be switching CD’s but by chance I was watching the morning show on the day before Grand Turk and Chris Salazar stated he would be going on vacation starting tomorrow. Kinda random to start a vacation in a middle of a cruise I thought. I guess all in all, it wasn’t that bad- I felt Loveland did a much better job than Salazar did. Both were good, but I preferred Loveland to Chris. Anyway, back to the Welcome Aboard Show. It was advertised as being “brand new.” And yes, it was different than any other Welcome Show we had been too, but it was AWFUL. Like, painful to sit through. There is a pre-show with towel animals talking to each other on the two television monitors in front of the theater. They pretty much talk about absolutely nothing and it’s not necessarily geared towards Sunshine guests. It’s not geared toward any ship really. Just a video Carnival created that could be aired on any of their ships. Next, the Playlist Production cast and entertainment team came out and they taught the audience a dance. Everyone does the little dance and then the CD, Chris Salazar, came out and continued to talk to the towel animals on the screen. Just nonsense over all. I was not a fan. The show is wrapped up with the Playlist Production cast performing various songs on stage. The singing and acting was fine- it improved greatly as the cruise went on, however.

 

After the show we decided to visit the Shake Spot. This is where we met Joe, another asset to the Carnival Sunshine. He was very personable, very friendly, and made great milk shakes and floats. We found ourselves only waiting to go when Joe was working. I haven’t mentioned the Cheers! program yet, but to start Cheers! is not accepted at this venue. We did not do Cheers! for this cruise. We had purchased it on the our previous cruise and for us, we felt we were always too full from food to even want to drink. However, if you do have any questions about the program please ask. I did my research pretty well on the topic.

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Both the shakes and the floats were yummy, but we preferred the overall taste of the shakes better. The ice cream used in the floats was very, very good though. I wish we could have ordered just the ice cream some nights. This is the strawberry creamsicle. It would turn out to be my favorite one.

 

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So, still on our way back from the Welcome Aboard Show in the Liquid Lounge, we had passed through the very smokey casino, hit up the Shake Spot, and now continued to walk toward the aft. Here is where all the action happens after the sun sets- Ocean Plaza. As the cruise progressed, this would be the place to be. There was a live band every night,“The In Crowd,” which consisted of 2 singers (male and female) and 4 band members (a pianist, a drummer, and a bass and an electric guitar player). There was also a dancer, her name was Shakira. Oh wait, she wasn’t in the band, she was a Carnival server who loved her job, loved to sing, and loved to dance! If she wasn’t serving drinks, she was on the floor dancing. She even sang on nights Super Stars Live was being held there. I truly mean this; I have never seen anyone enjoy their job as much as Shakira did. I found myself wanting to order drinks just to feel her positive energy. So this is where we stayed for the rest of the night. It was good music mixed with good energy and good people.

 

After watching them perform we retreated to our cabin. We met our room steward on the way, Clarence. He was a good guy and loved to talk. He always addressed us by name and asked many times if there was anything extra we needed or would like in our cabin. He also had an assistant but unfortunately I do not remember her name.

 

Here is tonight’s towel animal and by far the most pathetic one we would receive all cruise. By the end, Clarence would go down as making some of the best towel animals we had ever gotten on a Carnival Cruise!

 

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Up next- Sea Day 1

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The photos are great.

 

We would like to eat in the Sunrise DR also and happened to notice on deck 4 there were tables for 2 by the railing. Did you see them?

 

Wonder how hard it would be to get one of them. Any photos of these?

 

Thank you for any info.

Edited by A.S.
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The photos are great.

 

We would like to eat in the Sunrise DR also and happened to notice on deck 4 there were tables for 2 by the railing. Did you see them?

 

Wonder how hard it would be to get one of them. Any photos of these?

 

Thank you for any info.

 

 

I don't think I have any pics but I did notice them. There were a few on each side towards the back overlooking the 3rd deck. On the sides there are only booths.

 

There were quite a few tables for 2 on the 4th floor so if you did request one, I think you would need to be very specific about where you wanted to sit.

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Sean, thanks for all the work you're putting into this great review.

We're supposed to embark this Friday on the Sunshine for an eight night cruise to Bermuda. We are anxiously watching the weather reports about the storm, Joquin, which currently is hovering around the Bahamas.

Any news about this from the ship? Thanks for any info you can pass along.

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I'll be on her on the 11-night Journeys cruise on 11/28 and then I'll be on the Vista Inaugural. Looks like Sunshine has a lot of the things Vista will have only, of course, Vista is going to be rather larger. I love that Vista will have al fresco dining at several of the locations. The more exterior space, the better, imho.

 

I didn't sail Destiny, but I've been on both Triumph and Victory, which are pretty much the same ship. Sunshine looks a bit different aft on 4 & 5 and, of course, the remodeled theater and the nice Serenity Deck.

 

We only have two sea days, so I won't get to indulge in that Serenity Deck a lot, but I'm looking forward to it and to checking out the Havana Bar. Wish there was outdoor eating at that location.

 

Anyway, enjoying your review and photos! Thanks for taking the time. :D

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If you do wish to view your charges, you can either go to guest services or use one of the interactive kiosks located on deck 3 starboard side or deck 5 port side. I do have to say that with only two kiosks, the lines were surprisingly very short. I always waited less than 5 minutes.

 

Thank you for your thorough and fun review :D! We first sailed on the Ecstasy earlier this May and are looking forward to booking our next Carnival cruise for November 2016. Whoever came up with the kiosks is a genius. For the life of me, I do not understand why these interactive kiosks are not an industry standard.

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we leave on 10/31 and cannot wait. Do you remember which movies were playing outside?

 

A few were Cinderella, Guardians of the Galaxy, Furious 7, The Advengers and the Hobbit amongst a couple others.

 

Sean, thanks for all the work you're putting into this great review.

We're supposed to embark this Friday on the Sunshine for an eight night cruise to Bermuda. We are anxiously watching the weather reports about the storm, Joquin, which currently is hovering around the Bahamas.

Any news about this from the ship? Thanks for any info you can pass along.

 

I was on the Sunshine last week. I hope everything goes as planned for you.

 

I'll be on her on the 11-night Journeys cruise on 11/28 and then I'll be on the Vista Inaugural. Looks like Sunshine has a lot of the things Vista will have only, of course, Vista is going to be rather larger. I love that Vista will have al fresco dining at several of the locations. The more exterior space, the better, imho.

 

I definitely agree with you. I do wish the Sunshine had more outside dinning. I'm sailing the Vista as well and am really looking forward the outdoor promenade. You're going before me though, so maybe you can do a review:D

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The inserts to the Fun Times

 

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This is information on Carnival’s Luggage Express program. I’ve never partaken in it but, it seems like a good deal. For only $20 a person Carnival will deliver the luggage to the airport for you. If you plan to disembark the ship and head directly to the airport maybe it’s not worth the extra money. But if you have the majority of the day before your flight leaves, it would be nice not to bring your luggage around with you.

 

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