Christmas on the Sunshine: The Good and the Bad

[KatieCharlotte]

I have just returned from Christmas on the Sunshine with my husband and three kids. I should start by saying that we had a fabulous time and would absolutely sail on the Sunshine again. However, I want to review each aspect of the ship, including the negatives, because I found other comprehensive reviews useful in planning our trip.

 

I have not found any ship that's perfect. The Sunshine especially has some unique positives and unique negatives. Our experience was also affected by two things that changed crowd movement: (1) The ship was full of experienced cruisers sailing with extended family, and (2) We encountered strong winds that shut down Serenity and other areas at times.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation:

The embarkation process was very smooth. We arrived at about 10:30 a.m. and never waited in a long line. When we passed the first security check, the woman said they were starting a new process -- she checked us in and we only needed to get our S&S cards at the desks. When we reached "key" pick up, we only had to show proof of citizenship for one of my kids, I think because the first woman mixed up the names and failed to check her in. But no complaints because the process was quick and easy. They started boarding early and we were soon on the ship.

 

I have never really enjoyed the debark process -- I always feel like the friendly customer service shuts off and they just want us OFF the ship. They were very strict about where we could wait -- even though we heard on the walkie talkies that they were ready for our deck. I was ordered to move all our suitcases back up two flights of stairs, only to move them back down two minutes later when we were called. :confused:

[KatieCharlotte]

Lido Food

 

This is where the Sunshine really shines. My DH has decided that he will never sail a ship without a Guy's Burger. :D I'm not as big of a burger fan, but I loved the toppings bar and the fries.

 

The Sunshine has several unique Lido food features:

Each area is themed and looks like an actual restaurant. My girls enjoyed the tables in cozy niches along the sides. The expanded back area (with the Havana Bar, pasta place, and Mongolian wok) meant that we could always find a table for our whole family, even at very busy times. The main buffet area is broken into separate areas -- two islands for hot dishes, separate areas for salad and cheeses, and of course desserts. There weren't really clear lines -- people basically got what they needed and got out of the way. That may have stressed out some people, but I found it much more efficient, especially since we mainly just used the salad bar to add to our burger/deli/pasta meals. My husband did think that the set up made the beverage area less efficient, with fewer people able to get their drinks at the same time and longer lines.

 

We enjoyed the pasta bar, where you fill out a form to select exactly the type of pasta, sauce, and toppings you would like. We especially liked that the pasta bar was not separated from the main area, as it was on the Magic, so that we could each choose a different type of food and then eat together. The Havana bar offered unique foods at breakfast and lunch. My son thought the pizza was better than on the Magic, but not quite as good as the "old" pizza on the Fantasy-class ships. Hot dogs are available at the deli. We were on the Sports Deck often on sea days and never saw the hot dog stand open. I'm pretty sure they never use it, except as a place to put empty dishes.

[KatieCharlotte]

Pools and hot tubs

 

Two Lido hot tubs and one Serenity hot tub = not enough hot tubs for this many people. The Lido hot tubs were, as usual on Carnival ships, not quite hot enough. No enforcement of the no diaper rule that I saw, if that bothers you. On this cruise, the Lido pool was taken over by kids, again as usual, and the Serenity pool, while beautiful, was ice cold and seldom used by anyone. But we have access to indoor pools and hot tubs at home year-round and don't cruise for the pools.

 

Sports Deck and Waterworks

 

There's so much for kids to do on the Sunshine, and I appreciate that the outdoor fun is basically all in one area, so it was easier to find my kids. This is a great ship when you have multiple sea days (we had four) and active kids to entertain -- giant and regular-size foosball, billiards, shuffleboard, giant chess and checkers, giant twister (too big for short kids), bean bag toss/cornhole, small basketball court (always in use), ping pong, and a nice mini-golf course. Teens broke cue sticks, but not Carnival's fault.

 

Keep in mind that there's also indoor fun -- foosball, table shuffleboard, and darts -- for free in the Red Frog Pub.

 

The ropes course is significantly more challenging than on the Magic, regardless whether you choose the "easy" or hard course, which makes it more fun for bigger kids and less fun for kids who just meet the 48 inch height requirement and can't reach some of the ropes to hold on while crossing tightropes. The staff was very busy rescuing kids who got scared, but they seemed to do a good job of that and gave a special reward certificate to kids who panicked and still finished. I noticed that, while they closed when the winds were really bad, they stayed open when it was windy. On the Magic a couple years ago, it seemed like the ropes course was always closed at sea, but they tried to keep the course open on the Sunshine whenever it was safe.

 

Waterworks has big slides for thrill seekers and small slides and dumping buckets for the rest of us. Don't expect to get a lounger to watch your kids on a hot sea day, however.

Edited December 30, 2015 by KatieCharlotte

[tbo]

I'm really enjoying your review so far, we will be on the Sunshine soon and can't wait!

[KatieCharlotte]

Lido, Serenity, and Selfish Chair Hogs

 

First, there are plenty of seats on Lido and Serenity, especially if guests would be more considerate and not chair hog. It is awkward moving between the lounger rows on Lido because they're tightly packed, but I wouldn't call it terribly crowded.

 

I prefer Serenity being actually serene, on the back of the ship, like it is on the Fantasy-class ships. The Lido noise, especially the contests, was annoying, but you can escape the noise by going to the third deck. I love the sunny and shady spots, the hammocks and couches.

 

Unfortunately, the chair-hogging was the worst I have ever seen. Part of this may have been that there were more experienced cruisers (sorry to say) and large groups traveling together. At 8 a.m., on a morning where we were going to be in port in the afternoon, there were eighty-six saved chairs with towels/flip flops and no people, on Lido and the risers alone. (Serenity was closed because of wind.) On a sea day when Serenity was open, the seat-saving on Lido and Serenity was worse. Couples were saving two seats in the sun and two in the shade. Others were saving rows of eight to ten prime pool loungers for hours before anyone sat in them. :mad:

 

I started getting upset when I saw elderly couples who could not walk easily and parents with small kids looking for sunny seats by the pool early in the morning, while all the loungers were being "saved" by people who were showering, eating, or sleeping in. My husband and I like to sit for about fifteen minutes in the morning, so we moved towels and sat. In the afternoon, we shared a shady couch on Serenity for an hour after moving one towel -- the owner never came back. :rolleyes:

 

Carnival was putting 40-minute stickers on chairs, but most people were clever enough to return and remove them. This especially didn't stop the multiple-seat savers, who watched from their sunny spots, removed the stickers from their shade spots, and moved back to the sun. Or the people saving a row of loungers in case their family or friends wanted to sit later. :rolleyes:

[summersigh]

Thanks for taking the time to post this - we sail soon and were very interested. We've got our lunches all planned out now LOL:D

[pcvtmom]

Thanks for this review! We were on the Sunshine the first few months after her upgrades and renaming. LOVED the ship, but the Med was a different group of cruisers than the Caribbean. We're sailing over Easter, and I'm relatively certain it'll be the same type of crowd that you had over Christmas. I'm really interested in your assessment of things.

Edited December 30, 2015 by pcvtmom

[crusinpsychRN]

Thanks for your review. Diapers in hot top is disgusting! Put a little kid in a pool of water and what's the first they do?

[JGlennCruiser]

We enjoyed the same cruise and completely agree about the chair hogs, very rude and unfortunate. Luckily the loungers on deck 3 sides (the wind you mentioned occasionally made one side or the other unusable) remained a well kept secret for most of the cruise and since we didn't need that much sun offered a great escape from the Lido madness.

[KiwiFunCruiser]

Thanks for your review and a shame about the chair hogs, its all about Mee Mee with them.

[Jeafl]

Great review, I appreciate hearing the good and the bad. In just over two months we'll be sailing on the Sunshine, and I like feeling like we're prepared for anything. Any and all tips are appreciated!

[familycruzr]

We just booked the Sunshine for next Christmas, so it's fun to read about your cruise. Thanks for sharing.

[KatieCharlotte]

We enjoyed the same cruise and completely agree about the chair hogs, very rude and unfortunate. Luckily the loungers on deck 3 sides (the wind you mentioned occasionally made one side or the other unusable) remained a well kept secret for most of the cruise and since we didn't need that much sun offered a great escape from the Lido madness.

 

I had bad timing with deck 3 and the weather. The first time I headed out there, it was chilly and the second time was when both sides (and Serenity) were closed because of wind. But I agree that it's a good option most of the time, from what I've heard.

 

This was the first cruise I've been on with so much excessive chair hogging. I finally understand what people have been complaining about. This went way beyond saving your chair while you grab lunch or swim.

[KatieCharlotte]

Your Time Dining

 

I should start by saying that we've always had early dining, but we were waitlisted when we booked in September. We were assigned late dining, but the maître d' placed us on the onboard waiting lists for both early and Your Time. We received a note in our cabin before the first dinner that we had Your Time Dining.

 

On the Sunshine, you check in for Your Time Dining on Deck Five and then walk down the stairs to the dining room on Deck Three. This actually worked very well, IMO. We usually went to check in somewhere around 6 p.m. When we had a late port day in Aruba, we headed to dinner at 7 p.m. There were never more than a few families ahead of us in line and a table was always immediately available. We passed by the check-in desk at various times and never saw a really long line.

 

We didn't request the same wait staff each night and ended up with a different staff each of the seven nights that we ate in the MDR. I might have requested the same team had I really loved the first team. I missed the more personalized experience of having the same waiters get to know my kids, but after the first couple nights I became interested in noting the differences in quality among different wait teams.

 

We had one team that gave us the idealized cruise service -- including joking with the kids and cutting their food. Most were friendly and provided fine service. One waiter mixed up all our orders -- if that was your staff for the entire cruise, I would expect you to rate the experience very low.

 

One team seemed good, until the rest of my family left to have dessert on Lido and I was completely ignored as I tried to order dessert and then waited a long time for it to come. It was so ridiculous that it became funny, but again I could understand rating the experience low, especially when the head waiter seemed annoyed with me for getting his attention twice. I did wait forty minutes from finishing my dinner to getting my dessert. :eek: Other people in the area ate their entire dinners in that time. Our typical meal was about an hour in total.

 

As a whole, however, the service was good and the majority of the food was excellent, for mass market cruise MDR food. We had no complaints about food quality or warmth. My teen did observe that the waiters seemed more overworked, with more dropped plates than we've seen before because they were moving faster. I don't know if that was because it was YTD.

Edited December 30, 2015 by KatieCharlotte

[KatieCharlotte]

Entertainment

 

We didn't participate in daytime entertainment, except trivia. Trivia was held in the Ocean Plaza, which people pass frequently as they head from place to place. It was packed and competition for every trivia challenge was fierce. Even my husband never managed to win, and he's a trivia king. But it was fun.

 

In the evenings, we frequently watched movies on Lido with free popcorn. Many popular and family-friendly movies. The schedule changes constantly, so it's not really helpful to post, but basically the movies were at 8 p.m. and 10p.m., except on deck party nights, when they played one movie at 7 p.m.

 

This was our first experience with Playlist Productions. We saw Epic Rock and Motown. The shows were entertaining, the singing varied a lot in quality, and I appreciated that the dancers were fully clothed. Carnival seems to have moved away from the tacky thongs. :D

 

We also saw the comedy juggler and the Hasbro game show. I get that the juggler's comedy wasn't for everyone, but we found him absolutely hilarious and were still quoting him days later. Basically corny jokes in a dead pan and making fun of himself. And pretty good juggling. The kids liked the Hasbro show, but I thought it wasn't much for evening entertainment in the main show lounge. :rolleyes: I somehow expected a more impressive set.

 

The show lounge itself isn't bad, but Epic Rock was packed and the Christmas show was beyond packed.

 

I know that cruise director Jamie is leaving the Sunshine soon, but I will say that she has lots of energy and is the first CD that my kids actually took any notice of. My little girl became a huge fan. She may have a little too much energy for some people, and she really likes teaching dance steps when some of us would rather just "free dance" as my daughter calls it.

 

To be continued...

[KatieCharlotte]

Comedy Club

 

We only saw the family-friendly comedy on this trip. I didn't really believe it until I saw it for myself, but many people were actually lined up in the hall before the doors opened a half hour before show time. As others have said, there are many seats on the sides that can't see the stage, just a screen, and they also had a sign to let people know when the club reached capacity and no more people could be admitted. OTOH, this was a cruise with a high number of families and a high number of experienced cruisers who had probably heard that they needed to line up early.

 

The two comedians we saw were reasonably entertaining but the jokes weren't memorable. My kids like the cruise comedy clubs, but I find that most of the comedians don't know how to do creative and hilarious family-friendly comedy. They rely too much on audience participation or the same old parenting jokes. It's sad when I could write better jokes.

 

Havana Bar

 

I highly recommend the unique Havana Bar for evening entertainment -- live "grown up" music for listening and dancing starting at 9:30 p.m.

Edited December 31, 2015 by KatieCharlotte

[KatieCharlotte]

Maintenance/Air Conditioning/Leaks

 

Overall, the Sunshine seems to be in fine shape, IMO. I did notice a ceiling leak in the hallway on Deck One after it rained, but nothing that interfered with anyone's cruise, as far as I know. I heard that one cabin had an A/C problem, and there was a rumor that someone was stuck in an elevator, but we did not experience any problems. I personally love that the rooms are kept a bit warmer, as I used to find them too cold. We had a note warning us that the A/C would be turned off for routine maintenance on a port day but we never noticed a change in the room temp.

 

One of the two ice cream machines was out of order for the entire cruise. This was only a minor inconvenience because the other machine was kept filled and working fine, but it was a little odd because I've read the same thing in other reviews of the Sunshine. :confused:

 

Service

We were happy with our steward, although he was occasionally late in replacing our beach/pool towels after removing them and one night the "turndown service" was only the Funtimes. He was quick to respond to requests, and we had no serious complaints, so we tipped extra for Christmas. It was honestly shocking to overhear other families talking about taking off their tips --- just because they didn't want to pay that much, not because they had any real complaints --- on Christmas Day. :rolleyes:

 

I've already mentioned the MDR, and we had no complaints with any other service on the ship. Lido tables were cleared quickly, everything seemed very clean, and most employees were extremely friendly. During the Christmas show, an employee representing each country held a candle during Silent Night. That moment reminded me how sad it must be for some to be away from family and home for so long and not even return for the holidays. We appreciated the work they did to make our cruise great. :)

[KatieCharlotte]

Ports of Call

 

We visited Aruba, Bonaire, and Grand Turk, all new ports for our family.

 

In Aruba, we took the public bus to the Catalina Cove area. A short walk following the "to town" signs. $2.30 per person each way. I thought we'd have to wait for the right bus, but the driver of the first bus said he was going that far. I got the impression that this was just to accommodate all the cruisers who packed onto the bus, but it was appreciated. The snorkeling was good, according to my husband and older daughter. The little one enjoyed seeing interesting fish near the shore. When we were ready to head back, there was a van that we could have taken, but we wanted to stretch our legs and walk down the road a ways. Eventually we came to a bus stop just as the bus was about to arrive and hopped on for the return trip to town.

 

In Bonaire, we had booked an island tour with Achie. The price was very good and the 3.5+ hour tour was excellent. If you are not a diver and enjoy seeing new places, I highly recommend a tour. The kids enjoyed spotting donkeys, grazing goats, flamingos, and various lizards and birds. The desert terrain is interesting, as are the salt flats. My seven-year-old wanted to move to Bonaire after seeing the animals and the pink water of the salt flats. After the tour, my husband snorkeled near the port. I loved Bonaire because it was the opposite of a cookie-cutter cruise port, but don't expect sandy beaches or Senor Frogs. :)

 

In Grand Turk, we had the cookie-cutter cruise experience, staying on the cruise beach for a relaxing Christmas Day, but we also wandered to the left (when facing the ship) passed tide pools. The little one learned that you can't take home beautiful shells that are occupied. :eek:

Edited December 31, 2015 by KatieCharlotte