We just got back from a 4 day Bermuda on the Sunrise. We chose this cruise because of the length as we did not have the time to book the 8 day to the Caribbean. Regardless, we had so much fun. The ship is in great condition and I thought they did a great job with the refurbishment. You are able to tell that the ship is older, however the cabins and guest areas have been quite modernized and are definitely a big step up from the older carnival ships. Our cruise director Chris (the Flying Scotsman) was fantastic! is is always full of energy and he seems to make an appearance at every event around the ship. The fun squad and DJ were good. But we wish they had a few more deck parties as those are usually our favorite on Carnival. We enjoyed our cabins very much as well. We had the interior with walkway views on deck 7 at the front of the ship. It was great having a full size window just like an Oceanview cabin. both embarkation and disembarkation were very easy. During embarkation it was only about 20 minutes from curbside to on the ship. during disembarkation we waited in a short line in the atrium to get off and had very minimal lines at customs. Another reason we chose this ship was for all of the dining options. We are big fans of the new restaurants added such as guys burger joint, the blue iguana cantina, and the pig and anchor smokehouse which was delicious. The service in the dining room was great, we had your time dining and we were always seated in the Sunshine restaurant at the aft of the ship. In Bermuda we decided to take a taxi to Horseshoe bay beach, as we heard it was a great beach. The ride cost $7 per person and was about 15 minutes away. The beach was absolutely beautiful. The front gets crowded, but the back and side of the beach have lots of coves that are much more secluded and great for spending a day at the beach. But, definitely decide to return to the ship early as the line to get a taxi/ shuttle back to the ship was extremely long and people were scrambling to get back to the ship. Overall this was a great getaway cruise, we would definitely go on this ship and route again! Read Less

THE GOOD: I can't stress enough how having a great, caring, and helpful staff can make or break your experience, and this staff shined as bright as the sun! The bartenders and servers were all so very quick to provide any assistance and did so with a friendly smile. The events staff was exceptionally amazing. Shauna started the cruise off wonderfully doing the thankless job of giving the safety lecture in the Liquid Lounge, which was our muster station. She also was joyfully the KJ for many of the karaoke events in the Red Frog Pub. Adam and Diego were a joy to bounce back-and-forth with at Bingo, Pablo (hola!) was surprisingly a funny opener to the comics at the dual lineup of standup comedy in the Liquid Lounge (he also made a fun trivia host), and Tyler was by and far my favorite trivia host (lo siento Pablo) and ran the last night of karaoke. Of all the talent performing throughout the cruise, Scott at the Piano Bar was so enjoyable. He was funny, accommodating (especially when he didn't have the requested song), and supremely talented. We found ourselves spending the remaining hours of three different nights relaxing and singing along in the bar. For those reading this, he has three-month contracts on these cruises and our last night on the Sunrise was his too, as he now is performing on the Carnival Magic. When the service is universally this amazing, you can tell that it stems from great management, because a truly successful leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. Chris (aka The Flying Scotsman) was the cruise director, and boy was he a delight. He devised great activities and events throughout our time on the ship, and also was a great host and performer. One highlight regarding his hosting skills was at the Love & Marriage event on the last day at sea. This is basically the Newlywed Game on a stage. I've seen it done on different ships (including Royal Caribbean) before, but Chris was by and far the funniest host, and really worked great on the spot with the contestants who were chosen at random as the show started. I laughed harder at him than I did even the hilarious raunchy comedians the night before. I purchased this vacation to celebrate the 3rd anniversary with my girlfriend, and to propose to her (she said yes by the way). Part of the advanced planning involved ordering the Happy Anniversary Celebration Package provided by The Fun Shops. It included a small cake (I chose chocolate), a 5" x 7" photo frame, 30" x 60" beach towel, and four dangling banners with romantic words on them that were hung on the ceiling via magnetic ends. When ordering, they ask what day of the cruise you would like this to be set up in the cabin. I chose the first day, hoping that the cabin would have everything ready to go before we stepped foot in it after embarkation. My whole idea of getting the package as a surprise to my then-girlfriend was to propose to her in the cabin at the very start of the cruise. After purchasing the package online months before we set sail, I called the Fun Shops to confirm that, if I chose to have the room decorated on the first day if the cabin, would the cabin be decorated before we set sail at 4pm? They could not confirm this, because the only guarantee they make is the decorations will be set up before the "end of the day" (i.e. as late as 9pm as I recall them saying). Given we had dinner reservations for 7pm, and I wanted to propose before dinner, this was a small concern. They suggested I talk with someone in the Retail Cares department (as they're the ones responsible for delivering the packages in the cabins) via the Guest Services desk on the day I embark to confirm if it was set up yet. We embarked at around 1:30pm, so I went solo to the Guest Services desk and a helpful agent (I really wish I remembered her name because she was so sweet and helpful) made the call to confirm if it was set up yet. She wasn't able to reach the person who could confirm that, so she stepped away from the desk for about 3 minutes and physically went to my cabin to check and confirmed it was! The way they decorated the room around the bed with the banners was lovely (and the chocolate cake we had later that night was DELICIOUS). It really made for a memorable proposal. My only gripe was I filled out a personal, meaningfully romantic message to be printed (like the small ones you can get printed with a flower delivery) when I ordered the package online many months before, and it was never printed. Depending on where and what you ate, the food ranged from nearly flawless to cheap hospital/institutional-tasting. The best restaurant food we ate was the steak and sides at Fahrenheit 555. It was an extra $38 per person, but well worth it for food that compares to what prices you normally find at a nice steakhouse. Our filet mignons were huge (the menu said 9oz, but I swear they were bigger), perfectly trimmed, and flawlessly cooked to medium-rare. This is not as much of a surprise to me if they're a great steakhouse because many I've been to in NYC can provide this too. The best surprise for me was the side of sautéed medley of fresh mushrooms. I'm not even a fan of many mushroom dishes, but this was one not to be missed; I only wish I ordered two of them instead of wasting a side on the decent mac and cheese. The best room service by far was a small thin-crust pie we ordered through the Pizzeria del Capitano for only $5 (you order through the helpful HUB app mentioned below). They deliver these pies to nearly every area on the ship. I'm a pizza snob and have had most all of the best pizza places in NYC. This pizza definitely wasn't in the upper-echelon, but man was it better than so many NYC slice joints. Seriously, do yourself a favor and try one of these pies. Also, on a whim, we were going to have the buffet for brunch on Deck 9 around 12pm, but the line was so damn long (something I've read in nearly every review on this website), so instead we opted for some burgers and fries at Guy's Burger's Joint. These burgers compare to the best you'll get at Five Guys (the fresh cut-style fries are pretty much the same) and other fast-casual restaurants. The burger patties are loosely formed and well seasoned, which lends itself to why they taste so damned good. The donkey sauce is a perfect burger topping. Oh, and do yourself a favor and dip those fries in a side of Guy’s bar-b-que sauce on the topping station. I thought it was going to taste cheap and just be nothing but sweet like bottled Kraft sauce. It was on the sweeter side, but it was really well spiced and finished with a nice little kick of heat. Finally, I haven't been on a cruise in over 5 years (my last one being with Royal Carribean), and so I've never seen an app quite like Carnival HUB. This app is amazing, and I hope all cruise liners copy its format and make some small common-sense improvements. Once you're on the ship, it immediately provides a listing of all events happening on the ship each day, from early morning to late at night, as well as every dining option available, based on the time of day, and allows you to create a daily planner well in advance to set your customized itinerary. What's more is you will get helpful push notifications on your phone ahead of time, reminding you of the next event or dining reservation you have. Without going on endlessly though just about the app, here's more info on it: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/carnival-hub/id925117977 . My only gripe with it is that it lists some rooms as being on a specific deck, but the entrance to that room is on an entirely different deck. For example, the Sunshine Dining Room (the main dining room on the ship) is listed on the app as being on Deck 5, but the entrance is on Deck 3. This is so frustrating and makes me wonder why the app doesn't list that specific info, to make it easier to navigate on the ship. Also, as far as improvements with technology, it would be great if the ship had a WiFi-centric GPS on each deck, so you can navigate your way to each location. That might be wishful thinking, but it would be such a helpful tool on a ship with difficult to find entrances for various rooms. THE BAD: The ship was cramped in all public spaces and the bars sprinkled throughout. These caused inconveniences galore just walking around the ship. For instance, the beautiful lobby on Deck 3 had a ceiling, which extended many floors above, and each floor overlooking the lobby walkways around this, but those walkways were so small in width, it would always be congested from people just standing around and looking towards that beautiful space. And when there were events or musicians performing in the lobby, that made things even more congested. Having to constantly bump into people when you're just trying to walk by on a huge cruise ship feels really inconvenient. And the orientation of the pools, whirlpools, and deck chairs on the Lido deck (9) was almost impossibly to walk through without bumping into people. On my last cruise (Royal Caribbean), the main public walking spaces were so nicely spread out this kind of congestion almost never occurred. Not only were the walkway widths small, but also so was the seating in many event rooms. Given the Sunshine is a renovation from the Triumph, and that it added more cabins, they didn't do a good job in making the event rooms more accommodating for the higher passenger count. The Limelight Lounge (where the comedians were most every night) was so cramped and small, you could never get a seat and the body heat from the room made it uncomfortably hot. The congestion trying to get around and the small rooms, given the number of people on the ship also had the unfortunate effect of making life difficult for the servers delivering drinks to guests who weren't sitting at the bar. For example, the cramped quarters of the Liquid Lounge made it nearly impossible for the servers to get guests their drinks, especially when they didn't have any space to walk through the aisles. It felt like being served a drink in the stands at a baseball or football game. And bless the patience of those drink servers on the Lido deck. The entrees at Cucina Del Capitano (Italian restaurant), some of the lunch items for room service, and all of the dinner in the Sunshine Dining Room were just way off the mark. At Cucina Del Capitano (which has a $15 per person charge), the appetizers we got (Nonna’s Meatball) were tastefully seasoned and had a wonderful crumbly, tender texture, and the red sauce accompanied it well. The three-component desserts we got (Agrumi/Torta Al Miele e Polenta/Sorbetto di Limone) were very tasty too. But the entrees (Cavatelli with pork Bolognese and the Pappardelle with shrimp and pancetta) were so disappointing. Like, no joke, we've both had better food (regrettably) at an Olive Garden. The free room service items we ordered for lunch were hit-and-miss. We both got sandwiches. The grilled cheese with was had nice Panini-style grill marks on the bread, but it was dry and tasted like they used zero butter or any other kind of cooking fat on the bread to give it the taste we all are used to with grilled cheese. The accompanying potato salad chosen was just a couple of red potatoes, cut in half and slathered in mayo, and tasted as plain as you would expect. This was not what anyone would want if they were expecting potato salad. The BLT was a nice surprise with bacon galore and a good smattering of mayo to lubricate the whole sandwich and I got it with a handful of (what I think were) Wise-brand potato chips. The chocolate cake was delicious but the cheesecake didn't have any tang you want from cream cheese and the crust was weird in taste and texture. On a side note, we had the "Bottomless Bubbles" drink package that includes free soda and juices, yet we were told we had to pay for soda delivered via room service. That makes zero sense. We decided we would dine in the Sunshine Dining Room on the elegant evening attire night (second night). From the cheaply made appetizer (a pathetic 5-piece arrangement of tiny rubbery shrimp cocktail with a watery-thin cocktail sauce) to the lack of seasoning on the entire snapper entree (despite this, the snapper was really perfectly cooked) to the misworded dessert (hazelnut malted chocolate cake that, to me, would taste something close to Nutella, but because it had no hazelnut flavor to be found, just tasted like an overly-rich chocolate cake). The dessert was so disappointing, I simply asked for the vanilla ice cream, just to clear the overkill of chocolate, and the ice cream had a gummy texture similar to low-quality supermarket ice cream and (worse) contained unappetizing ice crystals throughout. But, this was part of the free food on the ship, so my expectations were already low. To top it all off, the steeping water that accompanied my order of black tea was not even close to boiling temperature. Finally, when Chris would cheerfully make his non-emergent announcements at 8 in the morning, almost always just to provide an extra promotion for some various events throughout the day, it would be nice to NOT have the hallway speakers blaring in the cabins at 8 in the morning, so the (sometimes) hung-over and (always) tired guests like us at 8 in the morning could be able to sleep in a little. After all, we were enjoying our nights in the public spaces until at least midnight or later. THE UGLY: The servers and bartenders throughout the various locations on the ship were all courteous and helpful, but there was one exception, and that was at the Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse restaurant. As I mentioned above, the food at this restaurant was the best on the ship, but the service, from the hostess, to the drink server, to the bread server, to our main server, was just rude; the kind of rude service some snooty French restaurants are stereotyped as having. The hostess basically chided us for arriving 15 minutes early before our reservation time and said we would have to wait (which we didn't mind), but her rude tone was one that would have been somewhat appropriate if we just walked in without a reservation and insisted we get sat immediately. The drink server took forever to return with our drinks (just soda), didn't return our cards after serving the soda and gave an attitude when I simply asked for the cards back, and the sodas were both flat for some reason, which we hadn't experienced in any other bar or restaurant the entire cruise. The bread server’s frown looked like he was serving prison time. The main server had a snippy tone that seemed bothered with any question I had about the menu items. Plus, when I ordered the steak, I forgot to mention the sauce I would like to accompany it on the side. When I was finally able to hail down the waitress to ask, she read me the list of three different sauces, and I asked if they also maybe had a simple house sauce (which many steakhouses of this ilk have). Based on the tone of her answer (which was no, by the way) you would think I asked her "how much do you weigh?" The only bright spot of service was the chef (can't remember his name) who came to the table asking about how the food was. Speaking of food service, other than the room service mentioned above, also ordered it twice for breakfast. Both breakfasts’ were awful experiences. First off, the pre-order room service door hangs you get to fill out in the cabins offer 1/2 hour windows for delivery. I would imagine many people, such as myself, set your alarm to wake you up very shortly before you expect the room service. With a 1/2-hour window chosen, I understand if it doesn't get delivered until the very end of that time, but both mornings, the room service attendant delivered them between 5-10 minutes early. So, not to be petty, but it woke us up that much earlier before our alarms went off, and we didn’t like losing any minutes of sleep. The really terrible thing though (and why it's in the "ugly" section of my review) is the quality of the food was just reprehensible. The first morning we only ordered fruit. I don't know about you but I like my fruit to be ripe and our fruit was both under and overly ripe. Unless you're baking or making smoothies, bananas should be perfectly yellow, not overwhelmingly covered in "liver spots" like ours were. And melon should be soft and juicy, not crunchy and flavorless like ours were. Even more abhorrent was the second morning (July 20) we got breakfast. We ordered cereal and the little 8oz containers of skim milk were all spoiled upon arrival, and they weren't even past the printed sell-by date of July 22. Like, I know it's the summer, but keeping milk cold and far from spoiling is food service 101 for a dining operation. Also spoiled, by the way, was the little 8oz container of low-fat chocolate milk, which had the same sell-by date. Finally, the orientation of entrances to various different public spaces in this cruise was just confusing. As I mentioned in the “good” part of the review above, the Sunshine Dining Room is listed as being on Deck 5, but the entrance is on Deck 3. The Limelight Lounge on Deck 4 was so difficult to find (go off the walkway, into the middle of the casino on Deck 5 towards an unseen staircase and then walk down to Deck 4). It was so meandering and confusing, they had to put signs on a stand just to give passengers a hint. I'm convinced it was easier for Harry Potter to find the entrance for the Hogwarts Express train on Platform 9 & 3/4 than it was for passengers like me to find the entrance to the Limelight Lounge. Overall, given the great staff and fun activities, I would highly consider cruising with Carnival again, just not on the Sunrise. Read Less

My wife and I decided to take our three kids on a cruise. This was my first cruise and my wife had been on a couple many years ago. Our kids are 7, 10, and 11. I'll work from cruise start to finish so I don't miss anything. We loaded into the ship at NYC port. The load in wasn't bad at all until we reached the buffet on the Lido deck. That is when we realized that we weren't alone on this cruise LOL. There were people everywhere!!! The buffet line was LONG and once you got some food, there were absolutely no seats available unless you stood by a table waiting for a family to get up. Once we finally found a seat after walking around for 5 minutes with 3 young boys, we started to eat and lets just say the food was less than desirable. Thursday night was our first night and I think we made the most of a disgustingly overcrowded ship. Friday morning rolls around and we are greeted with some annoying voice over the PA system waking us up with things to do. Once we we got out of our room, we went to the Lido deck for some lounge and pool action... Sadly, there were absolutely no lounge chairs for us to sit. The boys ran to the teeny, tiny disgusting pool and my wife and I stood around in disbelieve. There are too many people on this cruise ship. When walked to the pool in the rear of the boat, we found that the layout of the pool caused massive bottlenecks. Shirtless people with tons of lotion bumping into me because there is little room to move from the front to back of boat on the Lido deck is not what I envisioned when booking this cruise. When I went to speak with customer care desk, I waited in yet another line only to hear that maybe cruises aren't right for me ..... lol... The woman actually said that its possible that the cruise ship is great and I am just not the "cruise type" LMAO. Saturday was nice in Bermuda. My family and I had a nice day snorkeling and hanging on beach. When we got back on the boat we decided to go to the ropes course and play some basketball with the boys. Sadly, the basketball court was packed with 20 people. The ropes course was great for the kids but the two staff were terrible. The man was talking with some guy right next to my 7 year old son while he waited in line to get a harness. The woman behind was talking to another participant. I told my son to start getting his harness on since nobody was there to help at which time the woman started yelling at my son and I. Do your job and you wouldn't have this issue. When my son was done, he cam down the stairs with 7-8 other people and they got yelled at for coming down the "wrong stairs". She said she had instructed everyone prior to the ropes course and my son didn't listen. Well, seems like everyone didn't listen or you didn't explain properly. Sunday was filled with more of the same nonsense. Lines, bottlenecks, and swimming pools that saw more people than water. The pools were absolutely disgusting. If your kid can't swim, rather than stick them in the pool with a massive life jacket, keep him out of the pool. Must have been 30 kids with giant yellow vests on. lol Monday was a day for exiting the cruise. The buffet was opened and then closed and the dining room closed early as well. We sat with our bags in a shuttered bar on the 5th floor and waited about 2 hours to leave the ship. I could be wrong but it seems like they could have made our last couple hours on the cruise a bit more enjoyable. I am sorry to say but this cruise was not good. Not sure we will ever try another cruise again. Read Less

Have sailed lots of mega ships including Vista and Horizon. Was Excited to try a smaller ship especially since they added a lot of the goodies from the megaships like guys burgers the taco place picking anchor the ropes course waterslides there seem to be enough to keep my kids occupied. excited to try a smaller ship especially since they added a lot of the goodies from the megaships like guys burgers the taco place spic and anchor the ropes course waterslides there seem to be enough to keep my kids occupied. However the flow of the ship caused bottlenecking everywhere I turned the Buffay was the most awful experience of any cruiseship I have ever been on I gave up eating at the buffet because most times it would take 20 to 30 minutes just to get through the line by the time I would sit down my food would be cold . We had a family of five which included two adults and three children ages 11,14 and 17. The room was very small very crammed and I’ve never seen a cot have to be brought into a room for the 5th person. The bunk came over the main bed which meant when you woke up in the morning you had to remember before you sought up that there was a bunk over your head or you would smack your head. The room is not an appropriate size for five people when they did the remodel it’s as if they tried to cram as many people onto the boat as they could. I found the staff to be great they were very pleasant they were definitely overworked and appeared very tired. Both embarkation and debarkation went smoother than a lot of cruises I have been on so that was a plus. All in all I had a great vacation but I can say I will not cruise on this ship again. We cruise about once a year and this was the most money I’ve ever spent on booking a cruise and it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. Read Less

We were on an Ultra Casino event on the Carnival Sunrise June 24-July 2 Quick to process, on board by 11:30 am Pig and Anchor very good on deck 10-still don't have water/lemonade/ice tea there. In cabin 7372 inside-plenty of room, love the usb ports. Close to mid/aft stairs and elevators. Comedy shows were great-could always get in, sometimes had to stand. Loved Chris Williams the cruise director-all about the ship. Also very talented don't miss his show. Don't care for some of the changes-by adding the Taco stand and burger bar took out the aft buffet line. Got very congested there at breakfast but there are many other locations that can prepare eggs, breakfast etc (deli, seafood shack, cucina, etc) Food on the hole was better than our last Carnival ship. We did my time dining, never had to wait. Check in deck 5 and walk down aft stairs to deck 3-Get table with Rachelle she is the best. Very efficient and always smiling. You may see her up on deck doing bar service also. Never had a problem getting a chair-but it was very hot this week and there isn't alot of shade on the ship. Several days we sat by where the DJ performs to escape the sun. Didn't go to spa, production shows, have pictures taken. Went to Steakhouse one night (courtesy of the casino) filet was very fatty by waitress never checked. Had to mention to the hostess then the waitress got an attitude. Being that we were on an Ultra cruise event we had alot of drawings, etc in the casino. We also had 'free' drinks while playing. Biggest complaint is not enough bar servers. Would wait over an hour for a drink as you can't go to the bar and order. Each days more and more people were getting the drinks on us card adding more people that could get drinks. Prob the worst service in the casino. Plus they ran out of everything Corona, Kahluha, Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. Wouldn't have it one day get it the next and gone the next. Maybe when a casino event is going on they need to order more-just saying. On orientated the ship was pretty easy to navigate-we used deck 5 as it went front to back-Liquid lounge (shows) forward on 3/4 and Limelight lounge deck 4 mid ship so used stairs by casino. First time to Bermuda-don't think I would rush back. We took the ferry over to Hamilton ($4.50 token/person each way). Walked around the town. Found things extremely expensive. All of the locals we encountered were great-very friendly and helpful. Returned to the port area and walked around the Royal Navy Dockyard. Water surrounding looked great-you can swim from Calico Jacks at the pier for a fee. We stopped and had a beer at the Frog and Onion brewery and it was about $18 for one 16 ounce beer. I am sure the beaches are beautiful but being that we had 4 sea days we didn't really need more sun. NCL Escape was in port with us and they spend almost 3 days in Bermuda but offer their passengers free shuttle to St. Georges. Our only other stop was Grand Turk which we had been to many times. Laid by the pool at Margaritaville and then back on the boat. Our casino hosts on this trip were Adrian and Jen and were very personable. They were out on the floor talking to guests. We have been on several RCL cruises and the hosts just sit at a desk. Don't miss the Quest-prob one of the best we have seen in 35 cruises. Debarkation was handled very well by Chris the cruise director. If you did self assist you were allowed to leave only when your deck was called-if you attempted to leave earlier you were sent back. Previously it was like a free for all for all the self assist folks-like this way much better. We were off the boat by 9am. Overall had a good cruise, met lots of great people. Don't know if all the changes on the ship were good. The ship still need alot of TLC. I know the additions are about $$-cabins, pay dining venues, etc. No cruise is ever bad-just felt this one lacked due to the congestion in the buffet, lack of servers in the casino, and running our of bar items in the casino. Read Less

Choose this for the length of cruise, time of year, and the ports. The ship was very nicely decorated and had a lot to do, but just too overcrowded. We stopped going to buffet because of not much choice and too long of a line. All of Deck 9 was just too crazy including the pools. We had a nice time, but wouldn’t choose Sunrise in future, due to its layout and just seemed they did not manage crowds well. MDR has good choices but found food to come out lukewarm, sometimes cold. Again didn’t seem organized to us. Staff was very friendly and does their best to satisfy. They need drink station nearer buffet. Have make separate trips once get food, then drinks, plus look for a table. Why we stopped going there. Specialty Steak and Italian were good. Service and meal to expect every night on cruise and not have to upgrade. Bartenders were great! Read Less

Do not book a cruise on Sunrise!! The positives: The Flying Scotsman; family memories, Java Blue coffee shop, debarkation, free laundry (pay machine was broken) Negatives: Smell of sewage throughout ship Cabin bathrooms smell of urine Cabin 6365 is below casino, constant smell of cigarettes (lung cancer anyone?) LOUD - doors bang shut - Passengers - most of them were rude, for example: things I heard in the hallway (mid ship 6th floor): a parent telling a young child they are "retarded," toddlers left unattended, people encouraging friend to vomit in hallway (he succeeded), smell of marijuana Scantily clad passengers who left nothing to your imagination. Breakfast in dining room WAS FANTASTIC!!!!! Dinner in dining room - AWFUL (ending up just eating dessert every night) At 2 am, a group was outside our door talking loudly. My husband asked them NICELY if they could keep it down, to which they replied "f you, we will f you up!" Read Less

Refurbished- added passenger capacity for several hundred more passengers. Ship could not physically accommodate the increased number of people. Lines at buffet were 30 minutes long. Swimming was impossible-pools were so crowded you only had room to stand. Insufficient number of crew,who were poorly trained and unmotivated. In the dining room- 2 steps past our table a man vomits explosively a HUGE amount of vomit all over the rug, splattering the bottoms of chairs and tables. None of the dining room staff did anything to address this. The women at the adjacent booth were gagging and holding their napkins to their faces. Kept telling the servers there was a problem, but they were rushing around serving dinners. As people walked by, the only reason they didn’t walk through a pool of vomit is because my husband and I physically stopped them. No one tried to block off the area or relocate the other diners. We refused to sit in that section for the remainder of the cruise because the area should have been properly cleaned by shampooing the rug. The next morning I am sitting on our balcony -I am drenched with gallons of dirty water from two decks above from balcony cleaning. Apparently we were supposed to be notified that the balconies would be cleaned that morning, but our steward never gave us the flyer. Poor ship hygiene, overcrowding, non-existent customer service. Food was average. Entertainment was poor because the size of the theatre had been reduced by 2/3 to make more cabins. There were no production shows. Ports were lovely but shore excursions were way overpriced. You could use the Bermuda ferry or bus to get everywhere for $5 a trip. Activities were very basic- mostly endless trivia and bingo. Read Less

Our 5th cruise. 1st with Carnival (3 NCL, 1 RCCL). 1st with kids (ages 11 and 13). We chose the cruise because the length was good for the kids, we hadn't been to Bermuda, leaving from NY was easier than flying to FL, and the Sunrise had recently undergone a $200M refurbishment. Embarkation: Cruise port was relatively easy to get to. Parking was right next to the ship. Definitely older than port facilities in Miami; less high tech experience, but lines weren't bad. View of the city on the way out was a really nice highlight. Statue of Liberty, Empire State, 1 WTC, etc. Room: Standard balcony room. Just like others we have had on other ships. Standard bathroom. USB outlets on headboard were a nice touch. Good storage space. Tasteful decor. Bathroom standard; not used to shower curtain vs shower door but no issues. Crew: Friendly but not outgoing. Were hardly greeted entering the ship. No one greeted us when we entered the buffet. No "washy, washy!" In fact, no one on the ship offered us hand sanitizer; not once. This is a real surprise and something that concerned us a bit. Bartenders were a bit slow, but not unacceptably so. We saw our cabin steward several hours after boarding. He had us sign a paper stating when we wanted the room cleaned. We didn't see him again until the obligatory goodbye around tip time. Room was made up once a day. If we took an afternoon nap, the bed wasn't remade in the evening. That said, several staff members were very kind to us. Our waiter quickly learned the kids' names and remembered them when he saw them at a different time in a different part of the ship. I saw another crew member assisting a mom whose child was seasick, which was nice. Food: Buffet was average; not as much selection as we are used to. Main Dining Room fare was also standard; nothing to rave about, but no complaints. Other free restaurants - Guy's Burgers, Guy's BBQ, Blue Iguana, deli, and pizza place were all quite good. We didn't eat in any of the specialty restaurants. Crowds: Crowd flow was poor. In trying to update the ship and add more stuff, they've created a number of bottlenecks. There was always a line for food. They couldn't make pizzas fast enough. All of the buffet items are in a row, so you have to get in a line and go through everything just to get one item. Individual stations would be much more efficient. In addition, there are so many food places on the Lido deck that it seems like one continuous line, particularly when combined with crowded pool and bar areas. Entertainment: Pretty good. We went to see a band play rock/pop hits a few times and they were quite good. Kids liked Hasbro Game Night. PG rated comedy acts were both funny. We liked the vibe at Red Frog Pub, including the little game room in the back. Disembarkation: Terrible. Not enough to ruin the cruise, but it does end it on a down note. They ask you to wait in your state room until they call your deck. I don't think people listened. We did but even then, we got our bags down from Deck 7 to Deck 5 and then had to wait in a mass of people to get down the stairs to Deck 3 for at least an hour if not more. Balancing heavy bags on narrow stairs with hundreds of irritated people and restless kids was not fun. They need to fix this ASAP. Thankfully we didn't have a flight to catch. Overall: A good time, but don't let the $200M in upgrades fool you into thinking the Sunrise is the equivalent of one of the newer megaships. It's solid and standard but by no means spectacular. I don't see us taking the Sunrise again unless the itinerary and the price were too good to pass up. We're even a little skeptical of Carnival. Again, no major negatives, but we felt other cruiselines did it better. Read Less

I've just returned from our Carnival Sunrise Cruise. I love cruising and I've cruised many times but I was so disturbed and overwhelmed by this cruise. First off the food and crew were good. But that was about it. I was traveling with my daughter, her husband and 3 children for their first very much anticipated family cruise. First day weather was bad and all activities were closed (pools, slides, ropes, everything! My 6 year old grandson got sick and medical on board was not always open and Did Not have children's Tylenol...really? There were 2 small pools and not enough deck chairs....the six of us had to share 1 deck chair. This ship holds 3300 passengers but ship's amenities cannot accommodate them! Drinks packages,which were extra $ couldn't be used until the next day when we were in international waters. We were supposed to have the 2nd seating for dinner but upon arrival found that we had to have a reservation. Bar service was very slow. Food lines were slow, especially the pizza line...and it was hard to find a table to sit. I was looking forward to lobster and steak...but sadly this would have been more money, it wasn't included. There was a big fight that broke out with 20-30 people throwing deck chairs...there was another altercation among 3-4 men, luckily it didn't end in fist fighting. On disembarkation, the police boarded.....not what you expect! This ship is touted as the Fun Ships, but it was too darn crowded and Nothing about it was fun! Needless to say, my family will never cruise again.....I may, but definitely not on Carnival! Read Less

My in-laws booked this cruise as a family weekend getaway. From the beginning, the ship felt crowded. The lobby bar area was always very full as were quick dining locations. You could wait in line for 30-40 minutes at the food options around the main pool. We chose to eat at the restaurants on board. We were very pleased with the steakhouse, Fahrenheit 555 and the Chef‘s table. There were some rude guests on our cruise; however, the staff impressively handled these difficult situations. The cruise ship needs to update and use room key bracelets rather than the cards. It got to be insulting how many times crew members would ask you for your card and a bracelet would have been a much simpler way of scanning for drinks, towels, etc. Disembarkment was a little messy in the morning, we paid for the faster to the fun pass but had to wait 45 minutes to disembark as some of the rude guests mentioned earlier needed to be escorted off of the ship by NYPD. It would have been nice to have had them wait with NYPD on the ship so the rest of us could have left on time (my husband and I needed to go straight to work). Our cabin steward, Larson, was wonderful! He sensed our needs before we had them! The highlights of this cruise for our group were Nikola and Denis at the Alchemy Bar and Scott at the Piano Bar. Nikola was a highly knowledgeable and talented bartender, we took his mixology class on the Sunday afternoon of our cruise. You could tell that he loves what he does! Scott had us laughing and singing for hours. He had a great personality and played off of the people in the room. For adults on this cruise ship, I recommend using the Serenity area of the deck (quieter, just get there early for a daybed). Overall, I think that the best way to do this cruise is to pay extra for the better dining options and to spend your time at the Alchemy Bar and Piano Bar. Read Less

I actually won this cruise on the Today Show. Was so excited, but let down afterwards!!! The ship was so crowded, the pools are extremely small, Buffet lines are ridiculous, the ship is chopped up and hard to navigate to all the venues. You have to walk through a Smokey Casino to get to most Venues. The Entertainment was mediocre at best. What topped it off was my IPAD being stolen from my cabin and they won't reimburse me. I've sent them several emails and they say they can't find it. It was definitely stolen!! I never used it because the wifi was so bad!! I had left it in my carry-on and never checked my bag again until I got home. I will never cruise Carnival again!! The Positives: My Stateroom was spacious, bathroom was a nice size. The food was OK but not enough places to eat during the day like other cruise lines. Such a Disappointment!!!!!!! Read Less

This was my first cruise experience. My coworkers tell me to try again, but I just can't. It was an extremely rocky ride...so I struggled. It did smell like sewage the whole time. The other guests on the cruise were rude to the workers and were beyond overwhelming. There was a fight in the eating area...which was absolutely absurd. The families on the cruise let their children run around and food was everywhere. A woman literally barged into the drink line and put her personal water container on the lip of the water to refill it for ten minutes. It was like eating at Golden Corral the whole time. I became extremely sick and spent the night in bed and going to the bathroom. I did take medicine for sea sickness...but it might have been a combination of the food, sugary alcohol drinks, rocking of the ship and the sewage smell. Leaving the ship was a nightmare. We were stuck with a 1000 other people in stairways and people started fighting. Thank God there was not a major catastrophe!! The police did board the ship in New York and take the people that were fighting. The staff were exceptional and kind. I felt so bad that they had to put up with the other guests. I would NEVER work on a cruise line. God bless them all!!! The entertainment was phenomenal, and it definitely helped me get through the weekend. There were multiple family reunions on the ship....so if I ever thought of going on one again....it would not be one with large family reunions. It was a family reunion ship where I was related to nobody and did not want to be there!!! Read Less

to spend time with family, this was my first cruise and I along with half the boat was very sick. The weather was bad, very high winds, rain, it felt like the boat was going to flip over. There were pails of vomit in hallways and I could not even bring myself to eat. so much time and money was wasted. We were told that we couldn't go outside on deck and they still wanted to people to pay for bingo. Anyway not for me. This was the second time my family cruised with Carnival and they enjoyed the first cruise so much. The shore excursion that was booked through Carnival was also upsetting, we had to wait 45 minutes for a pre ordered van to take us to beach and it was only supposed to be my group then they let more people squeeze into van, also lost about 11/2 hour of beach time, very disappointing. Another Cruise Ship was docked there too many people at 1 time. Read Less

My husband and I sailed on Sunrise from NYC to Bermuda. This was our second cruise, with the first being about 15 years ago, also on Carnival. Overall, we had a wonderful vacation, but that was most certainly in spite of Carnival and not because of them. The Good: Our room (7593) was beautiful. It was a balcony room on the 7th deck, had a very comfortable bed and sitting area, and an updated bathroom. We had no issues or complaints whatsoever with our room. Guy's Burger Joint was SO flipping good. Eat here for all of your meals (no really, see below). The brick oven pizza and ice cream 24/7 were also quite good and the pastry chef is top notch--don't skip dessert! The embarkation process was ridiculously easy, straightforward and well done. We got our bags delivered within about an hour, and had immediate access to our room (we arrived on time for our 12:30pm embarkation time). The Serenity deck was lovely. Very comfortable and quiet area; you truly felt like you were away from it all. The downside was that we had rough seas and high winds for both of our days at sea, so we had a really small window to enjoy it. This is obviously not Carnival's fault, but was still a bummer. The fitness area is also great; I got in a good workout on the ship and appreciated having access to the equipment. The Bad: The crew had inconsistent and contradictory communication throughout our time there. Paperwork says---be at your muster station by 3pm. Cruise director announces--don't go to your muster station until I tell you to (which is well after 3pm). The morning of debarkation, the cruise director announces that we should stay in our rooms until our deck is called. We do so, and housekeeping knocks on our door; each time we say we're here waiting for our deck to be called, they apologize and say they'll let someone know. After the third time, I ask the person why they keep knocking if we're supposed to wait in our rooms until our deck is called. They say that we need to be out of our rooms by 8:30am (it's 8:28am and they've been knocking since 8am). I ask how would we have known that? He says it was on our paperwork from last night, and I say we never received it. At that point, we decide that we're not waiting anymore and we get up and leave/make our way off the boat. We're on our cruise to celebrate our anniversary, and our steward (Slam) leaves us a $50 spa gift card. It expires the next day, so we call the Spa immediately to see if they can fit my husband in for a massage. They do so, and when he goes to settle up, he provides them with the gift card. They tell him that they can't accept it, that it's only good for certain treatments and that they have already discounted his service. We contact the Spa Manager, and after a bit of back and forth they take off the amount of the gift card. We booked a shore excursion and when we got to Bermuda we headed out for a leisurely morning until the time of our excursion (12pm). We decided to stop back at our room and it's a good thing we did; the Carnival staff slipped a piece of paper under our door after we left that morning to let us know that our excursion had been cancelled due to weather. The weather was lovely that day, so there's really no way we would have known unless we stopped by our room. Again, really poor communication. The food on the boat is gross. We tried the Deli, the main dining room, the Italian place and the buffet. The buffet is basically the same food as the main dining room, and it was really bland and of poor quality. Also, there are dirty cups and plates all over, and I wish that Carnival had a space where you could drop that stuff off versus everyone just leaving stuff on the table--gross. The service from dining room staff and the steward was basically nonexistent. No one was very friendly or helpful, and that was a shame. One night, my husband burned his hand on pizza that fell back due to a boat movement. Trying to get an ice pack for it became a comedy of errors. We went to the Medical Center our deck 0, and were sent away with plastic bags and told to go to the bar to get ice. Thankfully, another Carnival staff member saw us looking frustrated and took us up to the bar and got the ice for us. That was wonderful and much appreciated, but it shouldn't have been so difficult to get a little help. One night at dinner, several other people on the boat shared that they were experiencing sewage back ups in their rooms. Thankfully, we had none of that, but that's just nasty and not acceptable. Additionally, my husband wasn't aware of the history of the Surnise (as the Triumph), and when we got on the boat he said to me that he kept smelling an odd odor, like poop. Sure enough, even with a $200 million face lift, you can't fix some things. We loved Bermuda, and were able to find a great snorkeling spot on our own via public transport (i.e. skip the waste of money on an excursion!). We loved our room. We loved the time at sea. But, we were constantly frustrated and disappointed by the Carnival team and would not return to that cruise line. Read Less

Arrived at the port around 11 and only weddings and media were being checked in. So we waited maybe 15 minutes and then we were able to get to the check-in scanner-holding people who scanned your passport and check marked your boarding pass. On through Security and then a short wait in the lounge with the other platinum guests; boarding started around 11:45. Went to our 9C aft wrap cabin to drop off our carry-ons. Cabin decor is nice with blue and beige. Closet space could be larger, or have drawers somewhere. There just one shelf high above where hangers go in both closets. Nightstand has a little storage; prior occupant left some lotion in the cabinet. Bathroom decor updated but not the toilet as it had a black ring in it that would not come off. Shampoo and body wash were good. Mattress was very comfy. Empty fridge which promptly received our bottle of wine we brought onboard. The balcony itself has not been re-done. The flooring had holes in it and whoever mopped it got wads of mop rope in it. Also the black rubber rings around the windows were in bad shape and missing on the inside in some places. This is where Carnival lacks attention to detail. And the tvs are blaring when you enter the cabin. This is an issue with their tvs---every time you turn it on the volume is blasting. Also, I noticed there was only one lounger on our huge balcony and asked the cabin steward to get another. He had some excuse like "this is how they're doing it now" however, once I was able to reach Guest Services on the phone, (on hold way too long hearing how important my call is) that person called the floor manager and shortly after that, another lounge chair showed up. So to those who get our cabin next: you're welcome! Headed to Guy's Pig and Anchor and enjoyed an outdoor lunch there. Wandered forward to Serenity area which was very nice. Huge hot tub; its own bar area. We liked this area a lot (and it helped that we were the only ones there at that time) but since our balcony had loungers, we spent most of our lounging time there. We came across brand ambassador John Heald while in NYC port and reminisced about our 2 day Carnival Dream cruise years ago--in a nor'easter. It was an adventure on a brand new ship. He was there for the ship-naming ceremony and was soon off to catch Legend in Alaska. It's odd on this class of ship to see cabins on deck 5 aft where the piano bar, comedy club and one other club used to be. The Comedy club is now in Limelight lounge which worked out just fine although people had difficulty finding the mid-ship entrance to Limelight. The night club that used to be across from Alchemy is gone and the piano bar is now there along with Red Frog which was host to many events. Nice, open space. Didn't like walking through the casino to get mid-ship. The shops are the shops, and the Java Coffee bar that also used to be on deck 5 is now in the atrium area of deck 4. Had very interesting and delicious-looking donuts and muffins there. Game room (with board games) is gone and a few games are in the corner of the coffee bar. There is also a coffee bar in the buffet and we got cappuccinos there. The ropes course looked cool. There is a pool table up there too that we tried to use on a sea day. Can't do it when there is any ship movement. There is outdoor exercise equipment there, as well as the basketball court, and up one deck is mini golf. Water slides looked fun but we didn't get to them this cruise. Spa pass in a non-spa cabin was $69+ for the 4 days. Gave you access to the saunas, steam rooms, infrared room and heated loungers.  Liked the outdoor movie screen and we caught the end of the newer Mamma Mia movie. 2 movies showed every evening. Muster still takes too long. Carnival must be the only line that still makes you line up outside vs. sitting in a theater or restaurant. We had YourTime dining option, and the one night we went for dinner in the dining room we went to the check-in desk on deck 5, waited in a very short line, got our table assignment and took the paper to the aft dining room and we were seated right away. Worked out nicely, and has pretty much every time we've done this since Carnival introduced the option a few years ago. Forgot we could have used the HUB app to secure our table. Got a reservation at Fahrenheit 555 on board. Food and service was very good. It's a smaller restaurant since it is part of what used to be the upper area of the mid-ship dining room. Tried a few times but we were not able to get a reservation at the Italian restaurant. We were waitlisted and they did call us the last night for an 8:30 reservation which we declined. Also tried out Bonsai, and the appetizer and roll we had were both very good. Guy's burgers are consistently good. I did miss the Mongolian Grill as that was my favorite restaurant on Carnival ships. Buffet is a madhouse at breakfast time so we went to Blue Iguana where hardly anyone else was. Check the Fun Times to see where omelet stations are--there are several at various locations, as well as other breakfast options. Sea Day brunch was very nice and there is a new menu. I missed chicken diavolo and the froot loop crusted french toast, yet there were other good things to have. Pastas, burgers, breakfast items, etc. Everything we had was good at the brunch and I used my platinum drink coupon here for a mojito. I took a pic of the menu but I have to try to remember how to post it! Chocolate Extravaganza is now just a few cakes and a fondue station. The dark chocolate cake was very good. The new map channel is useless. Bring back the old one! I still do like the bridge cam to see what's ahead of us since our view was side and behind the ship. I liked CD Chris from Scotland and his never-ending selection of kilts. I loved when his announcement ended with something like "whatever you do, put FUN in it." Thought that was great. Welcome Aboard show in the Liquid Lounge. I expected to see previews of cruise entertainment, but it was Chris the CD talking to the audience and having a contest which would determine VIPs for the cruise. Just took longer than I expected. Then there was a 10 minute performance of the singers/dancers which was just ok. We didn't go to any of the shows except both comedians. The guy was very funny. Musicians around the ship were quite good. We have OBC from our TA and Carnival gives me a hard time when I want to split it among the people in our cabin. Why can't they just split it between the people sharing the cabin like other lines do. Becomes a pain to have to figure out who gets what or what to pay for on my account to cover their OBC. Also, on the tv (and Carnival Hub app) your account seems to get higher and higher $ but they don't show the OBC being deducted. You have to go to Guest Services to get that (or a kiosk to print out your statement). All things I wish worked simpler on Carnival. Platinum gift was the lanyard with the cheapest, junkiest plastic to hold your cruise card. Nothing else onboard to trade it for I was told. Believe me, I asked. First sea day was quite rough but not our first rough seas to Bermuda. During the cruise we had wind, rain, sun, more rain, more sun. Quite a variety. We arrived in Bermuda just after the beautiful Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas. It was windy in Bermuda, so we got to Horseshoe via the $7 shuttle, and no umbrellas were being rented due to wind. We did see one go flying, so we understood. Nothing here is cheap--the 2 lounge chairs we got were $44. It really is a beautiful beach and it does, in the right light, look pink. In summary, I was overdue for a cruise and it hit the spot. I love being at sea on the balcony; it's my bliss. However, I do wish Carnival had done a real overhaul everywhere bow to stern since there was rust all over the stern, the window rubber I mentioned already, etc. There was also a foul smell mid-ship on the lower decks near the lobby occasionally. I was glad we were staying at the stern. A short cruise is better than no cruise! Read Less

We have used Carnival before and this was our second time on this particular ship. It is an older ship, but is kept very clean, what it lacks in glamour, the staff make up for in a positive attitude! First and foremost- our room stewards, Dedi & Sasha were excellent! They gave us extra towels, kept ice in our rooms and always stopped to socialize and ensure that our needs were met! Thanks so much guys! Cruise director, Deon was wonderful! We really enjoyed the music trivia nights with him and Double D. Also, a big thank you to Dan & Steffan for hosting the comedy shows and being so friendly! Johnny Milwater, Cee Jay Jones, Thomas Brown and Jodi White put on great comedy shows and we had lots of laughs! A special thanks to LexAppeal for your nightly performances and the rock show - we thoroughly enjoyed watching and listening to all of you! Thanks to Bandit and the burger guys, we love Guy's burgers! The pixel staff was wonderful as well! Reymond and Made were very attentive on the smoking deck as well, thanks guys for keeping everything cleaned up. We would like to send a special thanks to all of the dining and housekeeping staff on the Lido deck. The only negative thing about the cruise was the long wait for the dining room on cruise formal night. It took 45 minutes to get in the dining room and another 45 minutes to get our appetizer. That was very disappointing, but the good was good! Overall, we had a great experience and would definitely do it again! Thanks to everyone that made the trip wonderful, we met some wonderful people and thoroughly enjoyed our 5th Carnival Cruise. Read Less

This was my fifth Carnival cruise. I chose this cruise for the 3 days in port in Bermuda, which was the only port and a bucket list destination for me. We booked one year in advance. About 2 months before departure, Carnival started sending out "change of itinerary" messages. I received 6 change notices, the last one as we were departing for the port. The final result was that we ended up with about one and a half total days in Bermuda, not three. No explanation for the change was given, and no compensation was offered except for a refund of some port fees that we were owed, obviously because we were not in port. Instead, we were out sailing around in a circle to the east of Bermuda. Other than this major disappointment, the cruise was the typical Carnival experience. The food and service was O K, not great. One comedian was very funny, the other one not so much. The cruise director Deon was wonderful. The highlight of the whole cruise, other than the wonderful destination, was the ease and speed of getting on and off of the ship. Bermuda is by far the most beautiful port I've cruised to. There are many stunning beaches, lovely homes, attractions like the Crystal Caves and the Aquarium and Zoo, shopping in Hamilton, and historical attractions like forts, lighthouses, and St. George which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Bermuda has inexpensive and efficient public transportation, by bus and ferry, to all parts of the island. Everything was clean and well-run. Everyone we talked with was helpful and polite, and Bermudians are so willing to guide you and tell you all about their wonderful island. They are obviously very proud of this exceptional place and rightfully so. I am already planning to return to Bermuda, this time on an airplane. I never expected to have the port time shortened (except in the event of a hurricane), and that event has made me re-evaluate the whole cruise experience. All of the people I spoke with on the ship were disappointed that our time was cut short. We all paid for 3 days in Bermuda as offered by Carnival, and that is not what we got. We also didn't even get the courtesy of an explanation from Carnival. Read Less

The cruise was great, the ship was great. Bermuda was a great place, everything was a little expensive. The ship was originally supposed to be in port 3 nights, but for some reason we had to leave one day at 3 and return to port the next morning at 930, so that really took away one of your nights in Bermuda. The food and dinning room service was great. Room service was good, Guys Burgers have the best hamburger any where. The casino was good, won some money & the casino staff was so nice This was a Primary Cruise and the gifts were really nice. The shows were good and had a great people. Deon the cruise director was one of the funnest people on the whole ship. It was always nice to hear his announcements everyday. The military show on the ship was one of the best I have attended on all my Carnival cruises. Read Less

This is my fourth cruise on this lady, Carnival Ecstasy, she is in good shape for an old gal! EMBARKMENT: My wife and I drove down from North Carolina and utilized the new cruise port parking arrangement. We used to park in an old warehouse and take buses after you dropped off the luggage at the parking lot. Now you drive in, they take your luggage and your park in the open air parking lot and take the shuttle to the cruise terminal. It appeared to be a little faster. The bottleneck at the terminal remained the same, long lines that are slow. You do get onto the ship in about an hour or so. ON BOARD: Your room key is now at your cabin's mail slot next to the cabin door, so when you get on board if you want a drink you have to show your boarding pass and give your cabin/stateroom number, the new system is a little faster, but not much. You head to the buffet on deck 10 and have the "standard" buffet food, good but not great. You get into your cabin by 1:30pm, you room key card and onboard charge card is in the mail slot next to the cabin door. INTERIOR: Rivera (4th deck) R63 is an interior cabin, with a queen bed, two twins pushed together. as my wife and I are CPAPer's we had the stateroom steward, Wayan, split the beds for us. He provided excellent service through out our cruise. Standard interior cabin, a little dated but functional. ENTERTAINMENT: On the ship, the entertainment is by cruise staff, all production shows, a couple were good, the cruise director, Deon, is a high energy and very personable. The Punchliner Comedy Club had a very good comedian, Jody White, we only saw her PG show and it was an entertaining 45 minutes. COST of DRINKS: They are getting expensive $6.50 for bottled beer and $9 and up for cocktails, similar to RCCL. PORTS OF CALL: My wife had not been to Bermuda in about 25 years, back in "those days" we did the snorkeling, glass bottom boat, the pink sand beaches and explored the island, now we sort of just walk around the port area. I will comment later about Bermuda it is a beautiful island to visit. MAIN DINING ROOM: We were "your time dining" from 5:45 pm to 9:30 pm, and there are long lines to get into the restaurant and your are given the buzzer that goes off when your table is ready, no matter what time we went, early or about 7:30 pm, there was about a half hour wait time. We dining in the Wind Star main dining room and fortunately got the same section at our request, with the team head waiter Iman and the team waiter Sentana, with a third rotating team assistant waiter at tables 138 to 146. They provided excellent service throughout the cruise. THE MENU: Standard fare, we had prime rib, two nights, beef tenderloin one night, and the menu varied on the beef and pork, with spare ribs, beef short ribs, along with the pasta, vegetarian, and seafood selection. There are two formal nights on the seven day cruise in which there are table cloths on the tables. The appetizers are standard, and they only have escargot (my favorite) one night of the cruise. Overall, the food was very good but not great. Now the "salt shakers" in the main dining room are the little cylinder ceramic shakers with three little holes onto and THEY ALWAYS CLOG!!! Five of the seven nights we had to have our waiter bring us salt shakers that were not clogged. Carnival get new salt shakers! If that was my main complaint, what am I complaining about. MEET and MINGLE gathering: I would have to rate it a poor compared to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. There were about 25 Cruise Critic M and M folks, and they coffee, juice, water and danish. On RCCL's meet and mingle, they had bottles of wine and champagne, hats, a backpack and the coveted pens and markers. THE CASINO: My wife and I were here on the Carnival Players Club "bounce back" casino offer, it you gamble "enough", and I do, you get a offer of an interior cabin for $100 per person, plus port charges and on board credit of $100 each, so essentially, its a "free cruise" excluding the port charges and taxes. Unfortunately the casino is small, and as I play three card poker (only two tables) and WPT heads up hold 'em (only one) I had limited table time as this cruise was also a Carnival players club "Premier" players club cruise and people were sitting at the table to play before the casino opened. There was a mix of old and new slot machines, mostly older vintage, and I did not hear of any really big slot machine wins announced. DEBARKMENT: Under an hour we went from the gathering place, Sapphire Lounge to pick up our luggage, through customs onto the shuttle bus and to our car in under one hour. Amazingly fast. OVERALL IMPRESSION: It was a nice cruise on an older ship, with standard accommodations, very good but not great food in the MDR that provided excellent service,that visited the beautiful island of Bermuda. There few kids on board as it is the school season, a good age group mix. Read Less

I chose this cruise because it spent 3 nites in Bermuda. after final payment was made cruise changed from staying in port, to leaving at nite and coming back in the morning. my wife and I decided to check into a hotel for the three nites, whiched saved the vacation. now, about the ship. on boarding, the sewer smell was so bad and the stale cigarette smoke was awful. food on the ship was ok, but nothing formal.. you eat, you don't dine. service on the ship is marginal at best. no more free room service, no more having your room cleaned two times a day. however, they do let you choose morning or nite service. the ship is rusty and in my honest opinion, carnival needs to sell it or scrap it. furthermore they should probably do that to all of their fantasy class ships. if you are booked on the ecstasy, I would consider changing ships, if not, you were warned. I will book on carnival again, but not on fantasy class ship. no how no way!! Read Less

I love Carnival, I thought the good was delicious, the staff was very friendly, ship was clean, it was a wonderful vacation. This was my 15th cruise so I do know what I am talking about. The captain is a sweetheart, the comedy shows was hilarious. I went to all of the comedy shows. Guys burgers was so delicious i could eat them every day. The brunch at sea was my favorite meal. The filet mignon for breakfast was always cooked to perfection. The prime rib at dinner was yum. Our cabin guy was very good at his job. I liked how Carnival allowed us to buy a liter of crown royal for our room. We will be going back next month and taking our five grandchildren with us.they do enjoy cruising and they enjoy camp ocean and the green eggs and ham breakfast. Carnival keep up the good work. Read Less

I chose this cruise for the time that was allotted to staying in Bermuda. It was changed and we were cheated time on the island. The only reason I booked the cruise was for the time I was told we would be there which was changed and I do not know why. We had a balcony room. The first night something sweeked all night. I reported it woke up the next morning it was still sweeking. Told the cabin staff person he went and found it. It was a door left ajar. The next night the people in the cabin had a huge argument at 4 in the morning which last for an hour and half. One evening the room smelled so bad that I literately thought I was going to lose my dinner. We were in a cabin in which the room attendant never put up the bunk beds so we literally had one chair and one stool for four people. I had to move my bed to the middle of the floor at night because I thought if it as a jail cell. (Not that I know what that really feels like). I am a gold member so this was not my first cruise, but may be my last on Carnival. I am going to file a complaint. No one on our bus going back to parking lot said they wanted to return when asked by the bus driver. This ship needs to be docked and Carnival needs to refund passengers money for this cruise!!!!! Read Less

This cruise was supposed to be 3 days docked in Bermuda. It was the entire reason we booked this cruise in the first place so we could take our time on the island. The itinerary was consistently changing and eventually we ended up with one full day and 2 extremely short partial days. My wife and I ended up spending more money on excursions and having less time to actually enjoy the island (like we originally paid for) No one on the crew really even acknowledged our concerns or offered "anything at all" to try to make it better. I would think it was maybe just my personal thoughts alone, however, virtually every other passenger I came in contact with was complaining about the same thing. I have been on 6 Carnival cruises in the last several years. I generally don't bargain shop for cruises... I see a cruise I like and I book it. Carnival has been my go-to in the past, however this last experience has caused me to start looking elsewhere for future cruises. The sad part is, that for the most part the crew was as expected... the food was as expected.... the entertainment was as expected but the fact that the itinerary was drastically changed.... and then.... there were no apologies from the crew, nor was there really any acknowledgement that this may negatively impact peoples vacations. Its as if everyone tried to sweep it under the rug. That's the part I have the biggest issue with. It has caused me to lose faith in Carnival. Sadly, my 5 previous cruises were great, but this last cruise will most likely be my last with Carnival. Read Less

We choose this cruise for the 3 consecutive days in port in Bermuda, (Didn't happen) We received an email right before we sailed (after full payment had been made) that we would be going out to sea one night verses being in port the whole time. After that they shorten our time in port 2 more times, after so many itinerary changes it left us with very little time to explore. We were never given an explanation to why all the changes. We were very disappointed in Carnival. If we had been informed of this PRIOR to final payment we would not have taken this cruise. Now on a positive note, our room steward Ibara was fantastic! Our dining crew (late) Carlos, and guys were great! Another note, I wish there were other activities on sea days, trivia is ok but it would be nice to have other options. Bermuda (what we saw of it) is a beautiful place and we hope to go there again someday but it won't be with Carnival. Read Less