Pros: ports, crew, made to order food Cons: Too much walking, too many people, awful seasickness, terrible WiFi Ports were great, Dominican my favorite. Abject poverty behind Carnival’s front of shops and bars. Crew was great, all of them. We had an outstanding steward named Anthony. Made to order omelettes, Guy’s burgers, JiJi Asian, all fabulous. Just too much walking for me and people everywhere. Waited often to get on elevators. Unsupervised kids running amok. WiFi package useless, didn’t work. Very few quiet places on the ship. Not enough pools for all the people and people fighting over chairs on several decks. The ship was all over the place, bumping, creaking, rocking, bouncing, it was awful. Captain told us at one point to hold on to rails. High winds both ways. Missed captain’s dinner and last night of 80’s bands & trivia because of terrible seasickness and I was prepared with Seabands, meclizine, and ginger chews. Spent more time in stateroom than anywhere else unless at port. Showered only when ship was docked. First and last cruise. I didn’t pay all that money to feel like that. Know that if you go on a cruise you are at the mercy of the ocean. Cruise director just annoying at times to me like the Rachel Ray of cruise directors, constantly on the PA system, waking people up and making Carnival sound like they were the most fabulous trip in the world not knowing how many people were sick below on the decks. Really annoying. The crew works hard. There was a language barrier with some which could be a bit frustrating, but we managed. Read Less

My family chose this cruise because we wanted a 5 day cruise and we love Amber Cove. We have been on 10 or more cruises. We don't have high expectations. We just love to get away and relax and enjoy cruising. The Sunshine is in very good condition for an older ship. Here goes my opinion. The ship is much to small for the amount of people on board. It has been re-furbished. The serenity deck is awesome. The Havana Bar area is beautiful. The Lido marketplace have the least amount of food options of any cruise I have been on. The lines for Mongolian Wok and Blue Iguana at lunch were terrible. We noted some people waited as long as 30 minutes. Guys burgers are great. Crowded but the line moved fast. Main dining room good on the one night we attended. Had my time dining. No wait if you go early. Main pool area too small and not enough chairs for amount of passengers. If you went to a show you need to go at least 30 minutes early to get a seat. Very small area. I don't smoke but some family members do. Smoking area on deck 10 very small with very limited seating. The staff was pleasant but obviously to busy to be very personable except for our room steward who was great. Cruise Director was Mickey and he was great. Amber Cove is very beautiful and relaxing. Grand Turk seemed like more locals were following you around on the beach and harassing you to get chairs etc. I would definitely suggest an excursion at this port. I will continue to Cruise again with Carnival but not again on the Sunshine. Read Less

We went on this cruise with 2 other couples after booking a year in advance. We had been on this same ship shortly after the major renovations for a 9 day Europe cruise and loved it. This was our 7th Carnival Cruise. First time out of Port Canaveral. Absolutely everything about this cruise was wonderful. Embarkation was smooth. Spa Room on Deck 11 was great and contrary to another reviewer, we are not platinum yet but we did get twice a day cleaning of our room. You are given a choice by your steward at the beginning of the cruise. We spent most of our time on the Serenity deck, and after a few days on Deck 11, we started hanging out on Deck 14 - easier to get chairs and not quite as busy. The umbrella tables and the bar stool type section that overlooks the ship were great fun. We never smelled cigarette smoke as other reviewers reported - perhaps it's location specific but we did not notice. Breakfast buffet never had lineups. Lunch choices were numerous including the free Italian and Japanese at the back of the ship. Our dining room waiters were the best ever and were funny, accommodating and attentive. We were offered coffee every night, I noticed someone said they were not so not sure why. The food was mostly very good - prime rib two different nights were a choice and filet mignon on another night was an option. Entertainment was very good and the cruise director Mikey was the absolute best ever. Another reviewer said he was bland but that is the furthest from the truth - he had more energy and was more entertaining than any cruise director we have ever come across. His goal was to talk to each and every passenger during the cruise and true to his word he came and introduced himself to our group. He got more participation out of the cruisers in events than I have ever seen. The musical show we went to was very good and the 2 comedian shows were good. Ports of call were Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts & St. Maarten. Went to the rum factory in San Juan on our own (25 cents for the ferry each way) and of note - St. Maarten is very much rebuilt and lots of shops and restaurants overlooking the beach. The only thing I wish different was that they didn't remove the news channels on the room tv. Otherwise, this cruise was perfect and was probably my favourite Caribbean cruise ever. Read Less

The shows were the best part. The performers were very talented The cruise director kept the entertainment flowing well The staff was accommodating when asked. The dining experience was poor in the dining room. A few too many cold over cooked foods for our small group of four One guest needed special food preparations due to food allergies The food was not prepared as well as it had been on other ships The choices were limited and were often served plain without flavor We booked 3 excursions through Carnival basically bus tours due to the mobility of one of our group. These tours always depend on the tour guide you get Unfortunately we did not luck out with oue San Juan tour. He was not very good.not engaging at all Our guide in St Kitts was informative and you felt at ease to ask questions The last was of St Martin the bus driver as well as the tour guide were very good. Our trip was wonderful I hope when The Sunshine starts sailing out of Charleston the dining will improve Read Less

I usually book my cruise based on Itinerary, then read reviews after so I know what to expect. After reading those reviews on this ship, I thought I had a picture.. But after cruising it was way better than expected. I'd like to address some rumors I've read. -Sewer & other smells in hallways: Never smelled anything at Anytime. Whatever was there, if anything, they fixed it. Even Casino Smoke was under control and isolated to casino as far as I could tell. - Age and Condition of ship: Yes its a 20+ year old ship, and shows its age in a few places, but it is WELL Maintained for its age.. I've been on newer ships in worse shape than the Sunshine. -Rocking & Rolling? This ship performed better at sea than most ships I've been on before. Nothing out of the ordinary here. -Decor & Public areas: Well Above average for Carnival The ports of call were the best I've ever been on. (San Juan, G.Turk, St. Maarten, St Kits) Did the Pier Beach thing in Gr.Turk, (awesome), port explored in San Juan and at Kitts. And took a bus to Maho Beach in St. Maarten and did some plane watching. Took the kids to Camp Ocean most of the days. They begged to go, and never wanted to leave. Best thing ever. The CO staff were always very friendly and nice. They really enjoyed it there. Mikey the Cruise director was chippie but mostly bland. His assistant sounded looked like she had just rolled out of bed most of the time. I usually enjoy and look forward to the Morning Show on sea days but oh boy what a energetic group these folks were on this cruise. pun intended.. Embarkation was the fastest ever. Arrived exactly at appointment time and walked right on the ship! Debarkation was average. Waited about 30 min but very smooth. Everything else: Buffet is average as expected for Carnival. They have some really good stuff and some ok stuff. Breakfast was the same every day as usual, but plenty of options to choose from. As for lunch, the options are better than for the dinner. Excellent lunch options daily in several places. I'd just wish they would keep the Blue Iguana Tacos stand open longer. It closes just way too early. I stopped doing MDR service a few cruises ago. Service is just too slow. Just not worth the wait. If Carnival didn't make the waiters dance and sing so much maybe they could do there job as servers. It's unfortunate because the Dinner buffet is nowhere near as good as the Lunch. (and everything else is closed) I really wanted to do the JiJi's kitchen one night but never got around to it. Also I noticed, there was never a line at any time I went through the buffet, as the Lido is smaller on this ship than others I've been on. Ship was not crowded after the first day. I was worried it would be after the tons of rooms Carnival added after the Destiny>Sunshine re-fit. On the first day there was the usual newbies wandering around lost and slowing things down. The ship does have a couple of pedestrian choke points (by Guys Burgers on Lido and the same on the other side by Blue Iguana) I'm sure Carnival is aware of this but there's not much you can do about it due to the layout. But after the first couple of days these eased up a lot. It's ashamed they are moving this ship to 4-5 day cruises in the future. Because if it were on longer 7-8 day South & East Caribbean i'd go on it again. That's why I chose this cruise in the first place. I go on a cruise to relax and see new places. Not to sit by the pool listening to loud music and get sunburned. I can do that at home. Carnival please OFFER MORE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN CARIB PORTS OF CALL! And lastly, To Carnival: BIGGER SHIPS ARE NOT ALWAYS BETTER!! You don't have to do what the other brands are doing and make bigger and bigger ships. Its not worth it. Take note: The Sunshine is perfect in every way. thank you Read Less

I have cruised with Carnival a number of times. This was to be my big 60 birthday cruise. I can go out of Baltimore but decided to try the Sunshine, plus it was a premiere cruise. What a total disappointment. The staff is way over worked and this is why things are not up to standard of Carnival ( surely not the fault of the staff). I run a hotel and know that service is effected by a over worked staff. The blame starts at the top. 1. 45 min to get a drink in the Casino. 2. cigarettes overflowing in ash trays 3. being told I needed to drag my luggage up the gang to the ship to my room, with a disabled sister with me. 4. liquor being left in our room that was purchased by someone else but my sister wrote them a note leaving it under the door of the guest telling them where to find their purchases. 5. shore excursions at St Kit (beach day at Carambola Beach Club ) was the worst !!! 20 min there I got a ride back to port.. My sister contacted the shore excursion desk ship, said they would contact me later that day, guess what no contact by anybody. 6. I only saw the casino host, and I am guessing that was her conducting the Premier Cruise one time. Never out in the Casino checking on guest. I could go on but I think you understand where I am coming from. I will be sailing again in June on the Pride, where I always feel welcome. I have not judged Carnival as a whole on one ship. But I will say this management better get a handle because I know for a fact I was not the only guest to feel this way. Its sad to be so excited about a trip and come away so disappointed.. Read Less

We chose this ship to go on a cruise with some of the members of our car club. 5 couples chose this ship because of the itinerary. My husband and I have had 15 cruises total. Most with Carnival, a few with RC and 1 with Celebrity. The overall experience was excellent. The speed of embarking and debarking has much improved. We were off by 9:00 am (self) and made our 12 pm flight. The cabin steward, Blessing, really made our week, he new all 10 of our names within the first day! He was very cheerful. We had an interior(inside, inside) cabin, 4E category. It was much larger than the regular interior rooms. There was an improvement with the food in the main dining rooms. Only one night was my steak overcooked. Our head waiter Hadi was excellent! We asked for him every night, which meant waiting longer for a table. The one night we did not have Hadi we had a horrible head waiter. Entertainment has been the same for several years and I wish they would mix up the shows or add new ones. The comedians were good and the Magician/Illusionist had us hooked! The Piano Bar was a disappointment, she did not have a clue as to how to do a Piano Bar. She sang well, but she did not really entertain us like you should at a Piano Bar. She was too prim and proper, did not know many old favorites. The other bands were really nice to listen to after dinner. This ship DOES have self service laundromats. We rented a jeep on St Maarten and had a good time. But I suggest getting a GPS as the map is hard to follow. I thought we were on one side of the island when we were actually somewhere else. Leave time for coming back in to port as there is a lot of traffic with 5 ships in port! Our cruise director MIKEY was excellent and really made a great cruise. I don't know when he sleeps. Read Less

We chose this one for the itinerary, and the dates worked with us. We enjoyed the ports, especially Grand Turk and San Juan. We bought a ship excursion in St Kitts...kayak and snorkel, we were not impressed. Although the tour company worked hard, we suffered because the ship docked an hour late and were rushed the whole time, plus we did not stop at the lookout spot at all. The kayaking was fine, but very short and simple, we went just along the shoreline to a really crowded man made grassy lagoon with some boulders dropped in to form a breakwall and colonized by some very basic fish. Zero coral to speak of, though we did see a turtle, which was great. After that stop we were sent further down the shoreline to wait for over an hour at a beach (with a tiny bit of sliced fruit and water )for the pickup ride back. We would have swam and enjoyed it a bit more but were told that the van ride was coming right away. No change rooms, bar or facilities here anyway. Buyer beware on this one, not worth the money. Otherwise we enjoyed the cruise. We were always able to find a spot to sit on a chair on board, the food was good , burgers fantastic. Buffet pretty small, however, and just repeated 4x. Could have done with a few more selections. This was my 4th cruise with 3 companies, first with Carnival. The free coffee was the best yet! Still not wonderful but drinkable! Drinks were pretty expensive but probably standard. We don't buy a drink package but you can tell who does....although after the first couple of days the drunken folks had totally calmed down and the people on board were basically the same as any other cruise. Read Less

We were on the 8 day Sunshine cruise over February school break (2/15-2/23), for Mass and RI at least. There were 7 of us, 4 adults, 3 teenagers. We all had a great time. The ports were wonderful. We enjoyed the alchemy bar before dinner. With YTD we would meet there while we waited for our table to be ready. We had the cheers package but had an issue getting it. I tried to signup the day of the cruise but kept getting a web error. Once we got on I was told you can't sign up the day of the cruise. YTD worked great for us as we had flexibility to eat when we wanted. We never waited at lunch for Guys burger, or the burrito place, both of which were good. The ship is smaller than what we've been on before. Getting around on the fifth floor was a challenge if you wanted to avoid the smokey casino. We spent a couple nights in the piano bar with Cassidy Rae, she was awesome. As stated on several other reviews the cruise director Mikey is the best. Very friendly and keeps everyone involved in his shows. We would sail Carnival again if he was the CD. Finally we had 3 Cloud 9 Spa balconies. The SPA area is pretty tiny. The steam rooms are nice but that's about all that's in there. They do have heated chairs too. The sauna is open to everyone. Not sure I'd pay for the Spa privilege again. Overall a great time for our crew. I know the three teenagers loved it too. Read Less

We haven't cruised Carnival in a while because we did not enjoy our previous 2 Carnival Cruises. We thought we would give them a try again. We booked this cruise because we wanted to visit the 3 ports of call as we have never been to them. We also booked Faster to the Fun and was really excited about that. Boy was that a waste of money! General boarding happened right after us so if you were at the terminal early you got on the ship as quickly as the Faster to the Fun guests. Our room was ready however our luggage was not there. General boarding luggage got to the rooms before our Faster to the Fun luggage. We were told by guest services it was just the luggage process and we shouldn't have expected our luggage early. Not sure whey we paid $136 CDN dollars for this service when two of the major reasons we booked faster to the fun was not met. We traveled with our two boys 8 and 5. This ship is not good for families with younger children. The ship is very over crowded and ALL lounge chairs on the ship are saved by 7am. My wife went to get a glass of water one morning at 5am and people were already saving seats. The venues on the ship are way too small for all the people they cram onto this ship. Expect lots of line ups! The Camp Ocean staff were all very wonderful and friendly. The cruise director, Mikey was the best cruise director we have had on all 16 of our cruises. Good variety of activities and food were good. This cruise might have been alright for two adults but bringing children on this ship is very frustrating. Be a long time before we cruise Carnival if we even go back. Royal Caribbean is a lot better and if you are Canadian and traveling with children can be a lot less expensive when they have their kids sale free promotion on. Read Less