Carnival Sunshine Review
Rating by category
Additional details
DW and I have 23 cruises in our history, mostly with Carnival. (since they home port in New Orleans year round, and we are only a bit more than one hour from that Port) We have cruised on other lines as well, so we do have some 'point of reference'. I don't consider myself either a 'cheerleader' nor a 'basher', and I know that every review (and every cruise) is a unique experience for every passenger...... I hope this review proves of value to those who are considering sailing Sunshine in the future.
The ship itself was quite nicely done. When you consider the age of the 'frame', it's obvious that you can make a very substantial and meaningful impact on the vessel when you put $200,000 in the investment. There were very few signs of the 1996 "Destiny", but if you looked closely enough, there were just enough edges and corners that showed some wear and tear ......... which is the source of the 'not quite new' in the title.
I did see one of the famous 'buckets' catching a drip from the ceiling in the hallway on our deck (8). The bucket was there for only one day, but the mechanics were working on that area on and off over a three day span. I never personally encountered any evidence of the 'sewerage' smell some folks refer to, but DD (who was on deck 7) did say there was one evening when the smell was pretty bad in the Liquid Lounge late one evening. Overall, I thought the ship was quite nicely executed and while the layout might seem 'congested' we never really encountered a problem with the public areas being 'over crowded'. On the return trip, in the Florida straights, the ship's information on the TV was reporting winds of over 60 MPH, but the ship always seemed very stable, so no complaints there. The Serenity area is remarkable and we enjoyed our time there........ our course you have to work around the chair hogs, and Carnival still seems to have a hard time finding a 'happy medium' when it comes to enforcing the limitations with regards to both chair hogs and kiddos being in that area.
Cabin Review
This cabin was selected by DW based solely on the fact that we have always enjoyed when we book an 'aft', and since we were booking over a year in advance, and the aft wrap was available, she went for it. This was, by far, our favorite cruise ship cabin of any across our 23 cruises (across multiple lines) The balcony even better than the suite we once treated ourselves to. The shape is strange, but with 12 feet of balcony on the port side and nearly 30 feet of balcony on the aft, it was AMAZING. There was lots of furniture, and lots of room...........so the four of us spent LOTS of time there. (DD and DGK were on board in a different cabin, but we let them share our balcony) I was concerned about the possibility of noise from the Havana Club above us, but the cabin was very, VERY quiet....... One note, if you have a third person in that cabin, the bed for the third person is for a small third person. I am not certain the pull out of that couch would fit an adult, unless they were on the small/short side.There was not 'hall traffic' to speak of, and elevators are far removed, so that was a plus as well.....ALSO being only one deck below Lido was a treat.