Concerned about the Sunshine?!?!

[jewliana]

We were on the Sunshine a few months ago! LOVED her! Would not hesitate to book again! Have fun!!

[Dive Master]

The Sunshine was the most crowded ship we have ever sailed on. Yes the Serenity area is very nice but if you want a seat by the waterfall pool you best be out there by no later than 600 AM. Want a clamshell on the top, be out there prior to 700 AM. A decent seat for the show, be in line at least 45 minutes early. Comedy the same. Piano bar, we never got in on an 8 day cruise. This was our experience. Other people seem to love the Sunshine. I guess she was just not for us. We are returning to a smaller HAL ship for our next cruise.

[youagain]

Love the Sunshine! Will be our 2nd cruise on her in March. We booked a aft and hope to avoid some of the crowd on our balcony. After noon -3 the loungers in the serenity open up but main pool stays crowded all day. Just plan a little more time ahead of shows at the comedy. We only went to main show room 1 time and it was fine. Crowded at Guys and Mexican bar so be careful also slick.As stated Havana is great and so is buffet it is just getting there from the main pool where it is bottle necked. Use back elevators for buffet and main ones near the Atrium to get around the bottle neck on Lido. We were on her NYE so it was a very full ship. Love the lunch choices of Italian and Chinese. We just did the MDR ,buffet, mexican , and Chinese (lunch) pizza and deli. Must of been ok gained about 10 pounds. Only about 248 days and we will be on her again. As said before try the Sunshine with a open mind and patience . It just might become your favorite ship also.

[April42749]

My last trip on Carnival was 2 years ago.....on the Splendor. It was the third time on the same ship in 2 years, and honestly, I found it boring. The reason....the entertainment. It was awful. Singers in the atrium/lido who couldn't carry a tune, the same old revue shows and passenger "talent". I vowed I'd never go back on a Carnival cruise because of this.

 

However, I got a good deal on the Sunshine and checked out all the reviews before booking. Yes, there are "haters". But, the food has good reviews (I'm really easy to please) and the entertainment has good reviews. I got a spa cabin "just in case"....but I am really looking forward to all the good things I've read.

 

You'll always find negative reviews. You have to decide what you want and see if they offer it.

[April42749]

Love the Sunshine! Will be our 2nd cruise on her in March. We booked a aft and hope to avoid some of the crowd on our balcony. After noon -3 the loungers in the serenity open up but main pool stays crowded all day. Just plan a little more time ahead of shows at the comedy. We only went to main show room 1 time and it was fine. Crowded at Guys and Mexican bar so be careful also slick.As stated Havana is great and so is buffet it is just getting there from the main pool where it is bottle necked. Use back elevators for buffet and main ones near the Atrium to get around the bottle neck on Lido. We were on her NYE so it was a very full ship. Love the lunch choices of Italian and Chinese. We just did the MDR ,buffet, mexican , and Chinese (lunch) pizza and deli. Must of been ok gained about 10 pounds. Only about 248 days and we will be on her again. As said before try the Sunshine with a open mind and patience . It just might become your favorite ship also.

 

As in slippery?

[Port of Tampa]

Fake news. Don't believe everything you read. We have been on the Sunshine 4x times and are cruising on her in September out of NY to Boston, Portland, Halifax and St. John's for our 30th anniversary. It is a great ship and you will have as good of a time as you allow. Some people would complain if you gave them a wrinkled $100 bill.

 

Cheers and happy cruising.

[mumofsons]

We sailed the Sunshine twice in less than a year - Last September to Canada and then in February in the Caribbean - both times we were very pleased with the ship and the service/staff.

Yes Serenity can be very crowded - the first time out of Manhattan - hard to get a seat going past the Statue of Liberty and then when we were in the Caribbean - but we just went with it. I am usually a balcony snob but for the Canadian cruise we booked a spa inside and loved it so much we will book that type of room again. Super easy to get outside and to elevators.

The biggest problem we had was the February cruise we couldn't get early dinner before the cruise but after the first night we got it changed and it was great.

You can't go wrong with the Sunshine - would sail on her anytime.

Enjoy!!

[gojags00]

We are booked in September...can't wait!

 

 

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[Heelyeah30]

Just curious, why was her name changed from Destiny?

Anyone know?

Here is my stab at this. When you have a class of ships you will typically expect the same overall layout from any ship in that particular class. The Destiny was changed so dynamically that the layout no longer had the resemblance of the rest of the class (Triumph, Victory). Therefore, the Destiny was renamed in it's own class as The Sunshine. In fact, the Triumph and Victory were considered the Destiny class, but now the Triumph class. Make sense?

[Lidolounger]

Just curious, why was her name changed from Destiny?

Anyone know?

Yes, she was the Destiny

 

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[surfjock27]

We cruised the Sunshine in April and we had the same concerns. We have also never done a cruise shorter than 7 days, so 5 days was outside of our norm.

 

The Sunshine is beautiful. It never really felt crowded, and that was even during Spring Break with a ton of kids running around.

 

You can definitely see the wear and tear of an older ship, even with the facelift, but there are far more parts that are modernized and gorgeous.

 

The staff was incredible as far as entertainment goes. Dining room staff was a little lackluster, but sort of expected anymore on Carnival.

 

Go, have fun. The experience is what you make of it. Go in having a negative attitude and you're going to have a terrible time.

[Cruzaholic41]

Just curious, why was her name changed from Destiny?

Anyone know?

 

Destiny had one of the worst reputations in mass market cruising, mostly because of constant propulsion problems. CCL needed to hit the reset button with that ship.

[Cruzaholic41]

They cut her straight down the middle and put in a new section during some major renovations a few years back.

 

Are you sure about that? I think you're thinking of a different ship.

[cruzeluver]

Another Sunshine fan here. Only Carnival ship we actually wanted to book a second time.

 

Show me a Carnival ship that does not have crowding issues. As a line, their passenger-to-space ratios are some of the worst. Did not find Sunshine to be any worse than the other Carnival ships we have sailed on.

 

Tons of food choices, most included with your fare. Jiji's Asian Kitchen is amazing and a steal. Terrific, creative cuisine and a bargain.

 

Larger Serenity than other ships with its own pool. Complaints of not being able to get seats near the pool crack me up. Does not every ship get complaints about not being able to get a chair by the pool?

 

Love the flexible theater. Very unique.

 

In general, her differences are the exact reason we like Sunshine. Much less cookie-cutter than other Carnival ships. And the decor is not as loud (tacky).

[CruiseHealing]

We booked the Sunshine (7 days) on its inaugural cruise out of Port Canaveral, and we Love it so much we book it again the following April.

 

Our second sailing on the Sunshine (7 days) was April 2016. This time we booked a suite. We Loved it so much we booked another cruise for May 2017.

 

This cruise was an 8 day cruise. We Love the cruise and the ship so much, we just booked the same suite from our sailing in 2016 for our cruise in May 2018.

 

A lot of reviews are for people to complain. If the ship was as bad as people say, nobody would sail on her more than once. We are a good example of Carnival Sunshine fans.

 

Sail on her and join the club.

[UDcc123]

When reading reviews, it's best to be picky on which ones to focus on. Pay attention to how many prior cruises they've been on, what types of ships they've travelled before, and what their situation is like (families, young, old, etc).

 

All reviews are valuable to some people but some reviews are not valuable to all people (people who haven't cruised before get value from people's "1st cruise" review, but 1st timers reviews of "crowding" may just be "normal" for multi-cruisers).

[youagain]

As in slippery?

Yep! maybe it was all the kids spilling stuff.

[JTBCruiser]

DW and I prefer RCL but I was drawn to the Sunshine for the numerous food choices and itinerary. I looked at the reviews and yes saw numerous negative reviews but I never base my decisions on reviews like these. I know going in, the pool area will be crowded, no big deal to us, if we can find a place fine, if not, not the end of the world. Are there bottlenecks? Yes but again no big deal, have you seen the promenade area on an RCL ship with sales? Wowsa does it get crowded, we simply find another way or tell ourselves to remember we are on vacation so chill. We sail in Nov 2018 and looking forward to it.

[EBFURR]

We are long time Royal cruisers and our first ever Carnival cruise was in June on the Sunshine out of Norfolk. I have to say that the weather was the worst we have ever experienced in 20+ years of cruising. On the last sea day the entire outside of the ship was essentially closed so everyone was inside. I only point out those things to give perspective.

 

We enjoyed our cruise so much that we currently have 2 more Carnival cruises booked. We never felt overcrowded even on the day when the outside was closed. There are the normal crowds in certain areas during peak times but we have learned to avoid those over the years. There are a few areas of the ship where the passageways are a little narrow (around the photo area and going into the buffet near the Cantina for two) but they are few and far between & caused us no problems. There are always areas of the ship with little or no crowds if that is an issue. We found the service to be very good with the exception of slow bar service at times due to under staffing. We had no problems with the condition of the ship and our cabin (Cloud 9 spa balcony) was perfect. The serenity area was the best adult area we have ever seen. Wish we could have used it more. The Alchemy bar is the best bar at sea in our opinion. We loved the Havana bar as well. The no extra cost dining options are hands down the best we have ever seen. We would go again in a heartbeat (and probably will).

[Cushing985]

I took a look at the reviews and didn't find them so bad. The number of people rating the ship from Excellent to Very Good numbered 558. On the other end of the spectrum 208 cruisers rated it Poor to Terrible.

 

We've been on her twice now. The first was when the ship transferred from New Orleans to Port Canaveral a couple of years ago and then again this past June. Service was excellent with a couple of exceptions. The MDR wait teams seemed to be extremely slow toward the back of the dining room. After a couple of nights we requested a move to the other side and it was great (we're YTD). Two possible reasons for the slow waiters...seas were rough those two nights and maybe the servers were a bit seasick or perhaps the teams in the back part of the MDR were new on the ship.

 

The other exception was our cabin steward. He tried to talk us into once a day servicing stating he had "too many cabins to take care of." Why that was my problem is beyond me but we did get the twice a day service but the whole conversation left a bad taste.

 

People seem to complain about the crowds. Yes, it is crowded but when you cruise in June you can always expect a lot of kids and too many people in general. My bust!

 

I wouldn't hesitate to book another cruise on the Sunshine.

[summersigh]

We sailed the Sunshine twice in 2016 and really liked the ship and staff. I feel many of the less than good reviews are "much ado about nothing". :D No cruise ship is perfect but we were very happy with the value for the dollar ratio on the Sunshine.

 

Our cabin staff was excellent and the MDR staff took very good care of us. We liked the food better than on Holland America.

Every evening in the Ocean Plaza there was live music and dancing.

There are more places to eat lunch than you'll have days for.

Only real congestion was near Guys at the height of the lunch rush - given another hour and it was no worse than other cruise ships.

Some complain about the procedure for getting tables for open dinner seating ... but ... only one member of the party gets in line while the rest relax in the comfortable chairs of the Ocean Plaza. When the beeper goes off you get on the elevator and you're in the dining room.

Folks looked like they were having a great time on the ropes course and the water slides.

[landonsnanny]

Be aware.... cabin 1535... multiple issues.

 

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[bar1068]

Be aware.... cabin 1535... multiple issues.

 

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Do tell...

[new.b.cruiser]

I was on the sunshine for 8 nights in May and had a great time. I think any ship that's sailing at capacity will be a little crowded here and there but I can't say i felt it anymore than other ships I've been on. The serenity section is amazing! And so big that I always found a spot. I wasn't impressed with the pools but honesty didn't mind as I rather swim in the ocean when at port. Hope you have a great cruise!

 

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[riclop]

Things have gone downhill.