Our Sunrise Cruise 8/7-8/15...pros, cons, crowds

[stephluva]

My husband and I (both in our 30s) went with about 40 family members/friends on this Eastern Caribbean cruise, traveling from NYC to San Juan, Grand Turk, and Amber Cove. This cruise was chosen as a good way for all of us to vacation together from the NYC area, without having to worry about flights or long drives. This was my 4th cruise on Carnival, and 14th cruise overall onboard various lines. 

I will start by saying that I do generally like Carnival..the Miracle was one of my absolute favorite ships. I like the so-called "party atmosphere", the towel animals, and their casinos are some of the best at sea. With that being said, after this cruise, I will be taking a break from booking anymore Carnival cruises....and I will definitely not be booking any cruises on one of the "new $200 million dollar revitalized ships".

 

The good:

-Embarkation/Debarkation was a breeze! I was shocked at how quickly we got on/off the ship.

-The atrium is very nice to look at, I always liked the glass elevators and the gold touches all around. Gives it a classy vibe.

-Stateroom (1279) - very nice, decent size bathroom, ample closet space. Wish they had more drawers instead of shelving, but not a big deal. I thought it was interesting when our cabin attendant asked us on the first day if we wanted our room to be cleaned/turned down once or twice daily. We had to fill out a sheet saying which one we would prefer. I chose 2x daily...I mean, we're on vacation! He was very nice, and our room was always clean. 

-Food in the dining room was excellent, for both breakfast and dinner. Never once tried to get food in the buffet (more on that later). Guys burgers and Blue Iguana were good for lunch, along with their toppings bars. Bonsai sushi was excellent! Living in NYC, you can always find great sushi, and this was no exception. Nominal fee, but worth it the 2x we ate here for lunch.

-Drinks in the Skybar (sports bar adjacent to casino) and Alchemy bar (Deck 5 aft next to Red Frog) were the best on the ship.

-Ports were great! Grand Turk we went to Jack's Shack, swam in the ocean (nice sand, not rocky at all). San Juan we walked around town, did some shopping. Felt very safe there despite all fo the commotion from the previous weeks. Amber Cove was delightful...would definitely go back!

 

The not so good:

-So. Many. People.

-They really overcrowded this ship. When it was originally built as the Triumph, it was not designed to hold this many people comfortably. Carnival got rid of public space, built more cabins to fit more people (because $$$), but they did not think of where all those extra people were going to go! If all of those extra people just slept in their cabins and didn't go into any public areas on the ship, it would have been fine. But naturally, no one is going to do that on a cruise. So now all those extra people trickle into the public areas that were not designed to hold all those extras, and that's where the problem lies. If Carnival just did a refurb to the Triumph, named it the Sunrise, and left everything (space-wise) the way it was, the cruise would have been great. But the overcrowding really puts a damper on things...you end up not really doing what you would like to do, you wind up choosing the activity or dining venue with the fewest crowds.

-The pools. I've been on smaller and older ships that only have 1 pool for the whole ship. Even then, not a problem. But this was ridiculous. Never even could get close to the main pool on Lido because there was simply no way to even get into the pool. People were standing shoulder-shoulder in the pool with crowds all around the outside. I don't see how this is pleasant for anyone. We ended up at the aft pool, which was much better, but still very crowded. Standing room only. I felt bad for the bartenders/drink staff at both pools, they seemed very overwhelmed at all times. 

-Limelight lounge. They held comedy shows in here and I believe it transformed into the night club. No need to go to the spa, just step foot in here for 20 minutes, and you'll feel like you're in the sauna. Serious ventilation problem that they need to deal with, and quick. Only went to 1 show in there, and that was enough for me. 

-Lido Buffet. I normally love a cruise ship breakfast buffet. I can pick and choose what I like and mix it up a bit everyday. This was the first cruise that I ate breakfast everyday in the dining room, because the lines were tremendous and choatic. Some brave people from our group ventured up to the breakfast buffet 1 day, and ended up joining us in the dining room the next day. According to them, the food was almost inedible (and these folks aren't picky and have been on other cruises before). 

-There were multiple locations where there was water leaking from the ceiling light fixtures in public areas (entrance to casino bar, atrium port side). I don't know about you, but if I'm on a cruise in the middle of the ocean, I don't want to see water leaking from anywhere!! It remained like this for the entire length of the cruise, with staff putting a bucket underneath with a wet-floor sign. Occasionally, an officer would come along and stare at the leaking water for a few minutes, but nothing ever came of it. 

-Thankfully this next incident didn't turn into a bad thing, but there were so many people on our cruise doing laundry (or we just noticed it more because the laundry facilities were just down the hall from our cabin). One night on our way to dinner, a woman started shouting from the laundry room that one of the machines was smoking. I notified a crew member as I was walking to the elevator, and he ran back into a crew only zone (I'm assuming to get someone). Never heard anything else about it, and we got back home safely, so probably just an incidental event. I did take a look at the machines after this, and they seemed a bit dated. Maybe in their refurbishment, they  could update the laundry facilities. (With this being said, I have never done laundry on a cruise, and I don't plan on starting...it is vacation after all)

 

I will add that the crew on this ship is fantastic. From the bartenders, waiters, cabin stewards, all the way to the crew in the shops, they were all so kind and personable. Not a bad thing to say about any of them. 

 

We had lots of fun on our cruise, and that is mostly because of the people we were traveling with. We work hard every year to take a nice vacation, so we really try not to let the negatives get in our way of having a good time. You just avoid problem areas, and stick to what works well for you. Hopefully this review helps those who are booked on the Sunrise in the near future. If anyone has any additional questions, I'll be happy to help where I can while the information is still fresh in my brain. 

 

I do enjoy a good Carnival cruise, but we will be taking a bit of a reprieve for now. So it's not goodbye, just see ya later. 

 

[jlacy1987]

I appreciate your review! Based off what I've read, I think we are just going to avoid the buffet altogether. It sucks about the pools but we are going to be spending 2 days on beaches in Bermuda so if my stepson can't spend  that much time in the pools, it will be OK. He'll probably have more fun on the slides anyway and in the kid's camp. Sucks about the Limelight Lounge. I think we'll try to get there early to get good seats and if it doesn't work out, oh well. 

[herb]

Well written and thorough. A fair balance of good and bad. I was also on the same sailing as you. 

[lcat02143]

I was also on this sailing and agree with your entire review.  

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.

 

[disfan13]

Thanks for the review - they are almost all the same about the overcrowding. The leaking, well I agree with you there - you don't want to see that when sailing in the middle of the ocean! I have also read that the crew is fantastic, which helps the overall experience. I'm hoping Carnival gets this feedback and will maybe make some changes to the Radiance refurb. I wonder if they could do anything to save the Sunrise? I'm sailing in to weeks from today and have a May 2020 cruise booked - based on all I'm reading I have a feeling the May cruise will be switched to the Legend.  We don't do the buffet often, accept the first day. We also try and spend time in the Serenity area. Hoping September is less crowded. 

[Eliot Ness]

Sorry, wrong thread.....

Edited August 21, 2019 by Eliot Ness

[Crusin Karen]

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Based on how you introduced yourself, I "assumed" you were in the party with Herb who is a long time buddy previously from another forum and almost neighbor (we live in Ridgewood, NJ) As I mentioned after reading his review, we had to cancel 2 cruises the past few months (one a Journey cruise) due to illness and are booked on Sunrise for the Oct. 6 sailing.  I am even keeping my fingers crossed we don't have to cancel that one! Because of our current circumstances, we really have to cruise from our homeport and take shorter cruises, so Sunrise it is!  We DO NOT cruise in the summer, and hopefully there will not be the overcrowding on a fall/non-Caribbean cruise.  We are breakfast and lunch buffet lovers-have never eaten in the MDR for either meal, so that is something we will have to be prepared for.  I'm glad you had some good experiences on this cruise and appreciate you taking the time to share them.