Where do I begin. We are Diamond 47 Carnival cruises 277 days and this one was the last time we will ever do another Carnival cruise other than the one we already have booked for October 2019. Temperature on the ship was super cold, 66 degrees; food was terrible all 8 days. Any warm food got super cold quick. Trash. If you love salads, this was your cruise. If you like mashed potatoes, this was not your cruise. Mashed potatoes, one day for lunch. Otherwise rice and rebaked, baked potatoes. Black wrinkled skins and old potatoes. Tasted terrible. How about this. Turkey leg carving for lunch, the rest of the turkey for dinner. Veal parm. For lunch then warmed up for dinner. All the hot food. Warm at best. Lunch buffet. Always 30-40 tables always needed cleaning off while many were needing tables to eat at. Super short on help. Cutting down I would think. Bloody carved meat. Disgusting. Steak, super tough. Out of the entire 8 days. Two deserts were very good. Otherwise, none of them had any taste to them at all. Totally bland. Sause to put on a desert. Strawberry was a thin liquid with no taste. If there was soup that you may have liked. Saying that because they mixed up a lot of left overs and made soup. It was hot. The rolls were not much bigger than the butter tab. One day nice soft rolls, the next day harder and third day dark brown crispy hard reheat. The shows were average. One was totally boring. Fish and chips one afternoon. They want you to buy it. Chicken twice a day every day. Bingo was a joke. $500 dollar bingo. First game $100 second $150 third $250 that is there $500 dollar bingo. Now, almost all of the time more than one winner. Most received $50 if you won. Reason a lot of winners had to split it. The lowest they would give you was $50. Bingo card single $20, double $30, triple $40. So if you bought the $40 and won. You ar a big $10 dollar winner. A few hundred were playing and that is all carnival could offer. Disgusting! No electronic pads to get either. All dobber playing cards. The state room was fine. Like usual and our room steward was very nice as usual. Now how about this. I always do this. Every time I play a slot machine. I charge $100 to my account. Win or loose. Next machine I charge another $100. I can always look at the invoice and see how many games I played. This time, at cash out, I was accused of money laundering. Yes, money laundering. This was the very first time it happened to me. They would not give me my money. I was forced to take the cash out money and pay off my bill. The bill was all on my charge card. Talk about embarrassed. Yes, treated like a criminal. Our next Carnival cruise is on the Magic for Halloween 2019. Six cruises for 2019. Carnival, thank God, is only one of them. One last thing, the morning we were leaving, the Carnival channel on the TV had the time wrong by an hour. It was 6:30AM and it said $5:30 AM WE went back to bed. Then after leaving the room. We find out the correct time. Well, I could go on and on. Carnival is sinking fast. Celebrity and RCCL is blowing them out of the water for sure. Did you know that your points on carnival and Princess are not recognized together. RCCL and Celebrity, they are. The first cruise we took on Celebrity we were treated the same as going on an RCCL cruise ship. Priority. Nice! Happy Crusing! Stay off of Carnival ships. Forgot one thing. This must have been a cruise for the extremely old and the disabled. More electric scooters everywhere and always parked in the way. Read Less

This cruise was a bad idea from the start. Last time we went on Carnival 12 years ago and even then we thought that probably no more. But we really needed to get away this time and for many years wanted to visit Bermuda, so we decided to have no expectations whatsoever, and just relax and see the island. But this cruise was something else. To start, embarkation was ok, we came on time, went straight to the cabin and were shocked by the dilapidated state of the furniture and accessories, the shades were broken, the couch is stained, the window and door to the balcony so dirty you could not see through it. So I cleaned the room, the doors, the windows, the bathroom, but I still did not sit on that couch for the duration of the cruise, and tried to stay away from all surfaces. One day when mirrors were fogged, when we had the balcony door open, I saw all kind of had prints on every mirror in the room – must be a year at least of prints. We found discarded items from previous passengers, pill boxes under the bed. The same is true for every room and hall on this ship – it is dirty. Both my husband and I had terrible allergy attacks in the dirty cabin, and had to take antihistamine pills every day and buy more in Bermuda. Steward could not care less, I asked him to bring me a rope, it took a day, and when he did, it smelled of mold. One day the towels he changed were stained and torn. The drill was next, it started around 3 pm, standing in line for an hour in FL heat on the deck waiting for the drill. Captain did not wait until the end of the drill and started moving before it was over. So we were not able to have a going away party or see the shore from the top floor. This was just an opening act of the cruise where nothing was done on time. The crew behaved like it was their first cruise and they had no idea what to do and how the clock works. Captain’s toast was delayed by hour and a half without explanation or announcement. It was scheduled for 7 pm did not happen until 8:30; balloon drop scheduled for 9:15 was done at 9 instead when people were at dinner, and so on and so forth. There are no public places on this ship where you can just sit, relax, listen to music, the smoke is everywhere. The only through deck on the ship (deck 5) has a casino in the middle, the smoke is standing there, you cannot breath, and you cannot avoid going through there 10 times a day. Entertainment is nonexistent at best, and horrible the rest of the time. We could not find a thing to do on the ship for 8 days, tried to find any dance music, but all they have are terrible Cuban and calypso music on promenade, even when they played something tolerable, you cannot dance or stay there because of the smoke from the casino. So-called punch liners with their bodily function humor are tacky and not entertaining. Violinists on deck 3 were not told to stop playing when cruise director or captain is speaking, they would play louder so no one could hear the announcements. Singers and dancers are the worst I have seen in my over 30 cruises, 3rd rated Las Vegas strip club has better dancers that the once on the ship. The singing crew - wow - they should not be allowed to sing. In over 30 cruises that we took, we maybe missed 2 shows; this time we skipped 2 shows on purpose and left after 10 minutes of the other 2 shows - impossible intolerable cruelty on passengers to endure the screaming and screeching from the stage. The TV in the room is from the 19th century, no movies on demand, not even pay per view. Store selection is poor. This is the first cruise ever and the first trip abroad that we did not buy anything in the gift shops and did not bring any liquor back with us. The booze, watches, jewelry on the ship was more expensive than in regular US stores – first time ever. Everyone on the ship seems unhappy, crew is complaining all the time on long hours and being tired. Everyone is talking about when their contract ends and they go home. Very depressing. Now, the food. Food was terrible everywhere, no one cleans the tables at the buffet, and when they do, you have to clean them over again. I do not eat pizza, burgers, Mexican food, or any other junk, so I cannot rate these joints on board. But there was no food after 9:30 anywhere, no late night buffet, no deserts, no snack, no cookie, no ice cream ( I do not eat the chemical stuff they put into soft serve machines, would not consider it food). There is a coffee shop on board, so you can have coffee at least during the day because the cafeteria coffee is undrinkable. Buffet did not have any fresh choices, no berries, no fresh deserts, no good deserts either anywhere in 8 days. Terrible breakfast, to order cooks were out of pepper, tomatoes, mushrooms for omelets all the time. There would be a line of 10-12 people and he is making one omelet at a time on one skillet while 3 other people are standing nearby talking. Not once there was lox, white fish, herring, smoked fish served. No shrimps, no seafood for lunch or dinner at the buffet. I have not had anything tasty in 8 days, every time you go and eat, you think – why did I eat that? And how can I get it out of me fast? The second night was formal, so there was lobster at the restaurant; it was spoiled, I had stomach aches all night and the next day. Soups were terrible everywhere, how hard is it to have a consommé or chicken noodle soup? No vegetables were ever served anywhere but one day for lunch they had grilled zucchini and squash. In the restaurant when I asked to have vegetables, I would get 1 piece of broccoli or potatoes. We have noticed before that when chief is from India, the food is terrible, both in quality and choices. This was certainly true on this ship. On the last day at sea they decided to wash balconies - they wasted our last day on that and just spread the dirt all over. I can go over every day and every detail and cannot name one good thing from this cruise. This was our last cruise on carnival, it was terrible, and I never want to repeat it. Read Less

First i would like to say carnival tries to give you a fun experience and usually succeeds.Embarkation was fair. Food was fair service in Lido food court was terrible Service from our cabin steward was wonderful Dian was our cabin stewards name. He was attentive and one step ahead of us. We never had to remind him of anything he had our wine chilled and waiting for us every day. He made sure we had plenty of clean towels and bar soap. And the towel critters were a fun surprise everyday. The ship itself could have had more identification for direction and what is available on each deck could have been better defined like in elevator. The tv could have provided interactive account for those who could not download hub on cell. The entertainment was good The comedy club was a fun time with comedian Mrs. Ford who was very funny. The quest which i usually enjoy was a little raunchy and i am not prudish but found a real low life crowd not usually on any of the other ships i frequented in the past.No fault of carnival . But it kind of turned a funny and risky adult fun into raunchy dirty pig show.. The crew in the entertainment shows put on a good show and caught the audience attention and the lighting and tech group was actually excellent. The bingo was a sham. I would never be rooked again into paying for play with such ridiculously payouts with stupid contingencies to the winner. Likpick the right envelope or pop the right balloon to get the winners jackpot which they already clearly won. What happened to giving away the jackpot to the one who calls bingo? And quite frankly a 100. dollars or 200. should not be the winners payout ever if they pay 29 to 59 to play. and most of the time have to share with 3 or more winners lol. Cruise hip bingo has changed they use to give the whole jackpot of 5000. to 7000. away what happened. And being a bingo player i know that 49 numbers are very improbable to get in a coverall thus no jackpot winner usually. Shame on you carnival conquest. Read Less

We have been cruising for several years now on multiple lines. We are very familiar with Port Canaveral and enjoy sailing from there. Embarkation was fast and easy. Probably one of the best in our history. The Sunshine is a large Ship but not a mega ship. Large enough to not feel crowded. She had a major refit in 2012 changing from the Destiny to the Sunshine. My wife and I found her layout different than other ships and a little awkward at first to navigate. As always, our cabin steward was excellent and attentive. It is a personal opinion that industry wide, I have noticed a slight downward trend in food quality on the various lines. We make a point to dress and eat in the dining room for supper and for most breakfasts. The menu offerings were varied with some new items, but many of the familiar items and favorites seemed to be missing. Also portion sizes have shrunk a little. Not really a huge deal due to the fact that you can order pretty much all you want. We also make a point to try the Specialty options at least once a cruise. Some high points from The sunshine are the Havana Bar and its tastes of Cuba (gratis) and JiJis (15$ per person). JiJis is an inspired asian dining experience that was so SO worth it. Also I highly recommend trying the Chef's Table experience. It is worth every penny from start to finish. Just come hungry. Entertainment was on par with cruising. The stage shows were good but not wowing, although we had a master magician amaze us. This cruise had some of the best comedians we have seen and with fresh material. There was plenty to do on ship as usual. One really nice feature on the Sunshine is a 3 deck Serenity area at the fore of the ship. The service aboard was fantastic as usual. Our ports of call were Bermuda and grand Turk. Bermuda was beautiful. We, as a rule, do not book excursions, but rather "freestyle" and venture forth on our own. I took my time and did some research on Bermuda before our cruise and found some great travel options. The public transportation passes cover both ferry and bus. We spent some wonderful time travelling around and across the island, catching many sights and activities for less than the cost of one ship excursion. I highly recommend going to the Fantasy and Crystal caves, and a visit to St. George. Grand Turk is small and very flat. There are some neat sights there and some great shopping. Our whole goal was to sit beside the pretty blue water and do some snorkeling. We even managed to swim with an octopus for a while. There was plenty of beach sitting with free lounge chairs and clamshell shelters. Never did it feel crowded. And found an amazing little snack shack, The Beached Whale. I would definitely recommend this trip. Read Less

I chose this cruise because I wanted to go to Bermuda, Embarkation was poor, this was the longest it had taken me to get on a ship in my 20 cruises since 1991.The Sunshine is a nice ship, this was my second time on board, it has a difficult deck plan.Cabin was very nice I had a balcony 7249. Dining was very good except they did not follow my request that I had book from May 2017 for a table for two only.After talking very firmly with them this was resoled, We also dined at the Fahrenheit Steak house, the manager had very poor customer service skills, she however apologize for not greeting us. Entertainment and Activities was very good.Overall service was GREAT!!. Ports and Shore excursions was great I did the Island tour of Bermuda and it was wonderful.I also meet some wonderful people on board in including staff and cruisers,Overall this was a wonderful cruise and I would do this again. Capt. Greene Read Less

Took the Ecstasy for a 6 day to Bermuda. We have been on the Ecstasy before. The crew was great and they took care of any issues very easily. Food was good and everything was clean. Entertainment was top notch. This is an old ship and all the public areas are above the rooms. The whole cruise was great, weather was so so but carnival didnt make the weather. trouble didnt come till the very last day. Captain warned us that we would be in 4 hours late due to the heavy seas and strong head wind. but over night i got a letter saying i needed to go to a deck 8 lounge to meet with customs. It stated i would owe the customs money. I only bought 2 cartons of cigarettes even though the guy tried hard to sell me 4 cartons. you are only allowed one carton per passenger and since it was only me and my wife that makes 2 my limit. I also bought her some jewelry at the fun shops that was over 700 dollars but then again for two people it is 1600 total. I had maybe 50 dollars in trinkets from the port so i was way under on customs. BUT Carnival turned my name in as oweing duty as if i was travelling alone. Mean while my daughter got the same type of letter becausse she spent 1300 at the fun shops. So 1030 i get in line as the ship docks. and hour later there was no one yet. one guy showed to do this ( this isnt carnivals fault) but me standing in line was. Finally i was next and inside 45 seconds the customs officer after looking at my statement stamps me approved and sends me on my way. BTW my daughter had the exact same experience. Anyhow now i had to get in line to leave and we were in port nearly an hour by this time. Lesson learnt was dont spend more on board than you can individually bring ashore duty free, it doesnt matter if there are 2, 3 or 4 of you in your party. There were a lot of people in that line and i was close to the front.I feel for those at the end. If carnival selected with a bit more intelligence it wouldnt have been an issue at all. The food was overall really good. I love the ribs, and the service this time was impecable. From sit down to stand up only an hour, usually it is more like 90 to 120 minutes. We did have 3 sea days so brunch was something i love on carnival and it was as usual delicious. The band Lexappeal was awesome and was even included one night in the stage show. The male and female singers were great. The other performers were also very good and each had a very different genre and in its own right appealing. The ship doesnt have a big screen but I dont really watch movies often. The port was ok. Glad i went , probably wont return. Things seems a bit more pricey than normal. I took a shore excursion to see the whole of the island and they did that for sure. I think if I did return i would take the ferry over to hamilton for the shopping. Just my 2 cents. Let me finish on a totally up note. The crew was fantastic. obviously the management is doing a bang up job. Oh and I am including a pic of my towel animal..... Read Less

Cruised on Carnival Horizon Sep 2018. The elevators were 'state of the art' which means confusing. you go to a kiosk, choose your floor and the screen tells you which elevator to go to. Then you wait and wait. There is no indication on where your elevator is or when it will arrive. Once inside, you are stuck. You go to the floor that you choose on the kiosk plus any other floors where others are waiting to go to the same floor. Just strange. Never book spa balcony cabin 11234. When looking at the deck plans, there was an unlabeled cabin next to 11234. I asked my agent what that was and she put me on hold to call Carnival and ask. They said it is a storage closet. I figured no noise from a storage closet at night when I am trying to sleep. Well it wasn't a storage closet. 11234 is next to the thermal pool mechanical room and at 2am the first 2 nights, it drained the thermal pool so it sounded like a toilet flushing (but really loud) that lasted for 10-20 minutes. We switched to another open balcony room after the second night. Went to the Serenity (adults only) deck and one of the whirlpool spas wasn't working at all. Considering this is a new ship, that is a fail. The entertainment was awesome. Food was very good as well. Read Less

I chose this cruise with the thought of how wonderful it would be to sail on a new cruise ship. This was not my first cruise and I can say I was not that impressed. The hot tubs were filled with kids and no parents, soon became a kiddie pool with kids sitting on steps and diving in splashing around, went in with shoes on, complained to a staff member and nothing was done. Bathrooms were far and few between, had to travel quite a bit to find one, they were not that clean either. Not impressed with the Cruise Director, barely saw him or heard him, except for the two times he was dancing on the bar and at the sail away party. Buffets were not impressive, and "the fun ship" always had a lot more things going on, especially on the lido deck, they used to have ice sculptures and midnight buffets on the deck itself. Didn't think it was appropriate to pay to watch a movie or thrill ride in the 2 new theaters, and one reason that really made me want to take this ship was the sky ride that was not working. Embarkation and disembarkation was very good and moved quickly. The Meridian Main Dining Room was great, wait staff great as well as the food. Read Less

We did this cruise because we had to cancel another cruise; boy was I glad we got to take this cruise. It was the last cruise on this ship out of New York, and they did it New York way! Getting on the ship was fine, as long as you show up on your designated time on your boarding pass, otherwise you have to go into another line. I have cruised many carnival ships before, but this cruise ranked #2 on all my cruises. We had the best cruise director ever. Ryan and his staff kept us quite entertained. Never had a boring day. The comedians were fantastic, Mike Davis and Jeffery Jene kept us in stitches. The food was good, the ship was clean. I would recommend eating at the 55 steakhouse. It was such a great experience. The service was more personal because you have less people to attend to unlike the main dining room. The dining room service was fast, I am not sure why people are complaining, but on our cruise we did not have to wait for dinner. One tip is that you can eat at the Pig and Anchor for free on the first day of the cruise until 3:30pm. Drop your bags off, and go there, you will not be disappointed. All and all a good time was had by all. Florence ruin our beach day in Bermuda, because the waves on the beach were large and we had red flag warning. I will be cruising again in January with Carnival and I hope Ryan is our cruise director. I also stayed in a spa cabin which was a first, but would do it again. Like having access to the spa and its amenities it had to offer. Also the celestial show was amazing. You can only see this show on the Horizon. Book your cruise on Horizon, you won't be disappointed. Read Less

My first attempt at a cruise review after 4 cruises. We were to leave Baltimore on September 9, 2018 for Bermuda. Because of Hurricane Florence we were rerouted to the Bahamas. Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport. We cruised to those islands in 2011. I will give you some updates on changes I noticed on this cruise since our last cruise in 2016.. MY OBSERVATIONS: PARKING LOT: There used to be 2 lanes, one for cash and one for credit. The cash line was always the shortest. Now both lanes are open for either cash or credit. EMBARKATION: Seeming long lines at the 1:00 - 1:30 check in but they moved really fast. Carry on bags went through the xray conveyor belt but this time they were not opened and inspected like they did in 2016. We were aboard in about 15-20 minutes. Rooms were ready at 2:00. SHOWER: Water pressure in the shower was excellent. Shower curtain was extra long and didn’t wrap around you while you were taking a shower. I do wish they would add a small grab bar in the shower while the Pride is in drydock. ROOM SERVICE: Room steward brings a card and you check off AM, PM or BOTH. We were not pressured one way or another. We chose AM and wrote in ice. Our room steward was I Ketut and he was great! ROOMS: Our 4K room had a flat screen TV. Previous years you could find the day’s menu and check your sign-and-sail balance on the TV. Now you have to download the Carnival Hub to see those things. We didn’t take a device to use and locked our phones in the safe so this was no help to us. We would check our balance and add money if needed at one of the Kiosk’s at either end of the Casino. Never had to stand in line at Guest Services. I listed the TV Channels you get on the room TVs at the end of this review. BRUNCH: OJ was the only juice offered but you could ask for others. The bread basket came around and you could pick one piece. Menu was great! DINNER: We had YTD on the 3rd floor dining room. Bread basket was placed on the table. Water was really good on this cruise. Some choices came in little bit larger portions (caesar salad especially). Our waiters were awesome! Arta, Arya and Libin. At around 5:30 the line would start forming for the YTD. Crew members from the Dining Room were nice enough to bring those disabled guests right in to a table so they didn’t have to stand in line. I thought that was very nice. In past years they had a menu board outside the Dining Room with that night’s dinner menu. This cruise there was none. LIDO: Lots of good choices for lunch. Breakfast was always the same. I am not a fan. Best drink we found from Lido was to put about ½ inch of lemonade in the cup, add ice and then fill with water. Excellent lemon-water! Lido now has platters alongside the plates. Perfect to use as a tray if you need one, especially for bringing coffee and pastries back to the room. GUY’S BURGERS: Guys is a matter of opinion. Some love it and some do not. My husband loved it but I don’t usually eat burgers. The fries looked greasy and not crispy. However, I love fried onion sandwiches! I got a burger roll from Guys and filled it with the (yes, very greasy) fried onions from their fixins bar. Delish! PIZZA: We both preferred the pizza of 2 years ago made on a flat bread/foca bread type crust. This time it was made on traditional round pizza crust and it was served as ½ pizza when you ordered. (Unless you wanted a whole one. Approximate size was a medium). SHOWS: We didn’t go to any of the musical shows except KARAOKE which was fun. Hosted by Assistant Cruise Director Bendy Blake who was awesome! We did attend the CARIBBEAN SHOPPING SHOW. As reported by others, it was a waste of time, just telling you where to shop on the islands. (Stores associated with Carnival). Love and Marriage Show was hosted by Dr. E and of course it was very funny. He asked around 10 questions. COMEDIANS: Didn’t attend but heard they were very funny but only about 20 minutes sessions. Last couple of nights they had no comedians because they were to be picked up in Freeport on Friday but we skipped that port and came straight home Thursday after Half Moon Cay. CASINO: We spent a little time in the Casino on the first night. The smoke was unbearable. When we got back to our room, our clothes smelled like cigarette smoke! I wish they would make the table game side of the Casino the smoking section and the Slot Machines on the right as non smoking. That might help a little. DH was able to pick up a stack of $100 from the claw machine. We saw a couple other people grab one as well. CREW: As always, you won’t find a nicer, friendlier crew anywhere. When ship is docked in a port, the crew members are busy cleaning. CRUISE DIRECTOR: Reverend Dr. E (Eversen) was so funny and personable! Best cruise director we have ever sailed with! PORTS: GRAND TURK: We were last in Grand Turk in 2011 so it has been awhile. Back then Carnival advised to stay in the Carnival port area and not wander off beyond there. This time, locals were everywhere in the port. They offered golf cart rentals, jeep rentals, tours, chairs and umbrellas closest to the beach. It was really a big difference and to me it just seemed overcrowded with so much going on. Port shops were great. Half Moon Cay: Awesome as always. Captain announced on Thursday evening when we left Half Moon Cay that we would not be docking at Freeport on Friday due to Hurricane Florence. We would leave right then and go farther out to sea and around the Hurricane on our way back to Baltimore. Friday was a rough sea day as we did hit some rough seas. This also cancelled the Comedians for Friday and Saturday as we were unable to pick them up in Freeport. DEBARKATION: We did self-assist for the first time and loved it! If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer. TV CHANNEL SHOWING 11 FUN FINDS 13 CRUISE LIFE 14 CHANNEL GUIDE 15 SAFETY INFORMATION 16 FUN ABOARD 17 CARNIVAL ADVENTURES 18 MAP CHANNEL 19 FORWARD CAMERA VIEW 20 LIDO CAMERA VIEW 21 AUDIBLE FUNTIMES 22 CNN 23 CNN INTERNATIONAL 24 CNN SPANISH 25 HLN 26 BOOMERANG 27 CARTOON NETWORK 28 TNT 29 TBS / WATCHED IN ENGLISH/COMMERCIALS IN SPANISH 30 TCM 31 TRUTV / SPANISH IN PM & ENGLISH IN AM 32 FREE MOVIE CHANNEL / MOVIE GUIDE BETWEEN MOVIES 33 FUN FOR ALL 34 OCEAN VIEW 35 GOOD TO KNOW 36 MUSIC CHANNEL Read Less