The travel dates and departure port (Canaveral/Orland) met with the spring break travel time we needed to take our daughter on her graduation vacation. Considering that the Sunshine had recently come out of dry dock and been refurbished we thought this would be a nicer experience. The ship was smaller than we expected and felt very crowded. The spa suite we were in though was wonderful.

We had early assigned dining and it was a mess. The dining room service was sub-par, the staff was unorganized and the food overall was disappointing. Having been on several other Carnival cruises, this was by far the worst experience we have had. The staff didn't put on a show 2 nights during dining that were planned. The nights that they did provide a show, it was unorganized and seemed very well unplanned. Despite being seated every night for dinner by 6:15, several times we were not out of the dining room w/ dessert until well after 8:45. Some meals we were even 1/2 way through the meal before we ever even got anything to drink besides water. During the morning dining breakfast the vast majority of the dining staff was unpleasant and cool. Not what you typically see of the dining room.

Entertainment was crowded and overall not very well planned. We were unable to see ANY of the comedy shows because the venue was so small and there was no seating. Several nights even an hour before the show started it was standing room only. This was disappointing. We learned after that the venue on this boat had been significantly downsized to accommodate other changes on the boat during refurbishing. Other shows though that we attended, were greatly empty. Read more